


Persona 5: A Study of Hearts

by RoSH (RoSH95)



Series: Persona 5: A Collection [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi my not so sweet summer child, Gen, OCs fuck up everything, Ominous Laughter, SERIOUSLY READ THIS, but not until after my ocs have thoroughly confused our favorite phantom theives, either way its a great time, i have great things in store for you, i hope someone enjoys this as much as i do, i like to take canon and chuck it out the window, i promise its gonna be a wild ride, im having so much fun with this wtf, no beta we die like men, or maybe they just break everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2020-05-20 01:23:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19367365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoSH95/pseuds/RoSH
Summary: When Kuroyashi Rin is transferred to Shujin Academy following a very public mental breakdown at his last school, the staff immediately tries to shove him and Kurusu Akira, the other new transfer student together, because they can't be bothered to offer proper counseling to troubled students like they're supposed to. But Rin feels an immediate connection to Akira, a kindred spirit he's never felt with anyone else, even his best friend and sister in all but blood, Himura Akane. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Akira has the same emotional detachment that Rin struggles with, that makes connecting with others and forming bonds of friendship difficult.Or perhaps its because they're both Wild Cards, drawn together for the game that's about to start...





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My life has spiraled out of control XD 
> 
> This fic is PURE self indulgence and I literally give ZERO FUCKS about anything wrong with it so please keep your criticism to yourself and kindly fuck off somewhere else if you don't like it, I DON'T NEED YOUR NEGATIVITY IN MY LIFE. Thank you ^u^ 
> 
> I'm not planning for any ships to come up in this fic, but Akechi/Akira (Shuake) is one of my favorite ships for this fandom so its definitely going to be hinted at. If you're not down for that particular clown, speak now or forever hold your peace (by which, I of course mean click that back button and don't look back). If I change my mind on the ships, I will update the tags and make note of it in the chapter notes. 
> 
> Last thing before I throw you to the story for now. I've added three original characters to the story that take on roles of major arcana and have Confidant ranks with Akira (and Akechi).  
> First is Kuroyashi Rin, the Jester, who is the third wild card on the playing field alongside Akira and Akechi. He has a rare mental disability called Alexithymia that causes him to disassociate from his emotions, and makes it difficult to empathize with others or even recognize the emotions he's feeling at any given moment. I headcanon that Akira has a milder form of this disability.  
> Second is Himura Akane, the Faith, who is Rin's best friend and sister in all but blood. She hates watching society step on the people she cares about and wishes she could do more to save them.  
> Third is Uchihara Yukiko, the Consultant, who is Shujin Academy's "Gossip Girl" and Akane and Rin's close friend. Her family is a powerful and wealthy clan, still stuck in the politics of old Japan, and she feels powerless under the thumb of her clan head.
> 
> There are other OCs that show up throughout the story, but they aren't as important. Anyways. I'll stop rambling now. Enjoy!!

⁂Yuki⁂: received April 10, 2:15 pm  
You’re meeting Rin in front of Shujin right?

Me: sent April 10, 2:17 pm  
Yep! No way am I letting our poor, emotion-phobic little brother face that hell hole alone.

⁂Yuki⁂: received April 10, 2:20 pm  
Good. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there as well, but Noboru-sama required my presence in the family district this morning.

Me: sent April 10, 2:23 pm  
No worries. Clan politics, right?  
Me: sent April 10, 2:24 pm  
I got this.

⁂Yuki⁂: received April 10, 2:26 pm  
I leave it in your highly capable hands, then.

Me: sent April 10, 2:27 pm  
(ō.ō)7

 

Himura Akane glances up at the sound of footsteps and observes an older man and a teenage boy approaching Shujin. Not the ones she’s waiting for, though. Hmm.

The teenage boy has fluffy black hair and blocky glasses. His Shujin uniform is neat and pressed and he doesn’t look like a delinquent, but Akane would bet her life savings that this is the other transfer student that they’re going to try and pair Rin off with because they can’t be bothered to offer proper counseling for troubled students like they’re _supposed_ to.

“Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right?” the older man is saying as they approach, his expression resigned, as though he doesn’t really expect his words to have any effect but has to try anyways. “Don’t get me wrong—I don’t care what happens to you, just don’t cause me any trouble.”

The boy remains silent, his eyes hidden behind the lens of his glasses and shaggy bangs. But his shoulders hunch inwards a little, as if he’s trying to make himself seem a little smaller—even though he’s way too tall for it to work—and Akane thinks he just seems defeated.

Well. She knows that look all too well.

She only has to wait a bit longer before the two she’s waiting for finally appear, and Akane can jump up and down like an excited two-year-old blowing kisses at her little brother in all but blood because it’s the only form of affection he’ll accept from her.

Rin retains his emotionless expression, but he blows a kiss back so Akane can tell he’s just as excited to see her as she is to see him. He’s wearing his Shujin uniform pants, but that’s as far as he’s chosen to follow the rules today. Akane is sure if she asks him why he chose to wear the baggy red hoodie instead of the uniform shirt and blazer, Rin’s response would be a blank look and an, “its comfy,” as if it never even occurred to him that he was supposed to follow a dress code.

But that’s Rin for you.

“Hey Kohaku!” Akane greets his older brother with a hug, because he’ll let her and she’s gotta get her Kuroyashi snuggles _somewhere_. “I hear you have a meeting at work, so you’re throwing us to the sharks.”

“I’m leaving him with you, so I feel its more that I’m throwing the _school_ to the sharks,” Kohaku retorts, amusement and affection clear in his voice. “I don’t get off until late, unfortunately, so he’s welcome to stay over with you if your parents are still alright with it.”

“I get the feeling that Rin is going to be spending more time in my family’s home than your apartment this year,” Akane sighs. “At this point you two should just move into our apartment.”

“You know we couldn’t impose like that,” Kohaku says, gently.

Akane doesn’t mind. She knows how important it is for Kohaku to be able to support himself and his brother independently. So, she’ll just offer her family home to her best friend when he needs it, and her unconditional support to both of them whenever she can.

“Now, I believe the two of you have somewhere you’re supposed to be,” Kohaku reminds them. “You don’t want to keep Principal Kobayakawa waiting.”

“See you later, Niisan,” Rin says quietly.

“Keep out of trouble, both of you!” Kohaku calls after them as they walk up the steps to the school entrance.

As Akane leads Rin towards the Principal’s office, she catches sight of her and Rin’s reflection in one of the windows and can’t quite contain a smirk of amusement. She and Rin look nothing alike, which is sure to give the rumor mill a field day when they get ahold of the information that she and Rin are siblings. Akane has scarlet red hair and amethyst eyes, while Rin has platinum hair and ruby eyes. Not to mention, if they looked into it a little, they’d find that even though Akane is a third year and Rin is a second year, they’re only four months apart in age.

If she weren’t half as amused by the speed that rumors get around this school—and if her best friend’s family wasn’t a huge news company, teaching her to trade in rumors and secrets—she’d be concerned. Because secrets at Shujin don’t stay secrets for very long.

“To reiterate, just so we’re clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems,” Kobayakawa is saying to someone as they approach his office, probably the other new transfer student. “Honestly, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side…

“You might have done a variety of things in hiding in your hometown, but you _will_ behave yourself here,” he continues, and Akane and Rin pause outside the door to listen, exchanging glances. “If you are thrown out from our school, there will be no place for you to go. Keep that in mind.”

Akane bites her lip and knocks on the door, unwilling to listen to his undeserved lecture anymore.

“That must be the other transfer student we’re expecting, come in!”

Akane opens the door enters, surveying the atmosphere and cataloguing the expressions of the room’s occupants. Principal Kobayakawa has a welcoming mask on his face, despite the fact that he just delivered an unnecessarily harsh dressing down just a minute ago, Kawakami-sensei has her eyes fixed on the floor looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here, the older man that Akane assumes is the other transfer’s guardian just looks tired and irritable. The other transfer’s face is obscured by his hair and glasses, but his shoulders are still hunched up defensively.

“Himura-kun, I wasn’t expecting you today!” Kobayakawa says, visibly startled and a little irritated, but still keeping his welcoming mask in place. After all, he has to seem put together and reliable to the students. The absolute picture of a kind principal who cares not only about his student’s education, but their wellbeing as well. What bullshit.

“Rin’s brother has to work, so he asked me to make sure he made it here,” Akane explains. “He already signed the papers and gave them to Rin, but he said if you need to call and confirm with him, he’ll be available until three-thirty.” A glance at the clock says its three-twenty-five.

“That shouldn’t be necessary,” Kobayakawa holds out his hand towards Rin for the papers.

Rin passes them to Akane, who passes them to Kobayakawa, who raises his eyebrow but doesn’t comment. Thankfully.

“You’re Kuroyashi-kun, yes?” Kobayakawa asks Rin, eyeing the hoodie distastefully.

“Yes,” is Rin’s simple reply.

Akane swears she can she a vein throb in Kobayakawa’s temple at not being addressed properly, but he does a good job at keeping up the mask.

“This is the teacher in charge of your class,” he says, to both Rin and the other transfer this time.

“I’m Kawakami Sadayo,” she introduces herself, almost tonelessly. “Here are your student ID’s.”

The transfer steps forward to accept his from Kawakami and Akane catches the name ‘Kurusu’ printed on his ID. Rin stays rooted in his spot, so Akane takes his ID from Kawakami and passes it to him herself. They’ll have to work on his aversion to being in close proximity to anyone other than Akane, Yukiko, and Kohaku, because its going to become a problem if he avoids everyone like this.

“Be sure to read the school rules,” Kawakami continues, like she’s reciting a script. “Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance either of you cause any problems, I won’t be able to protect you at all.”

She turns to Kobayakawa. “…That _is_ your promise, yes, Kobayakawa-san?”

Kobayakawa makes an agreeable noise. “They are responsible for all their actions. Kurusu-kun _in_ _particular_.”

Akane doesn’t like the pointed tone Kobayakawa’s voice takes at the end, or his hard stare directed at the other transfer student, whose shoulders are up around his ears at this point. She also notes that they failed to mention that Rin and Kurusu are supposed to be working together throughout the year to hold each other accountable and “help each other succeed at Shujin both academically and socially.” Akane thought it sounded like bullshit when she read the letter, and this pretty much proves it.

“But really though, why me…?” Kawakami mutters, and Akane really can’t believe she said that in front of a student. _Three_ students! “There should’ve been better candidates.”

“It was a sudden transfer,” _lie_ , “and your class was the only one that had an opening.”

Akane’s not sure about Kurusu’s case, but Rin’s been in the process of transferring to Shujin since his mental breakdown last winter. It’s a miracle he was even able to finish out the school year, really.

“If you’re done explaining things,” Kurusu’s guardian interrupts Kobayakawa and Kawakami’s conversation, “mind if we get going? I got a store to get back to.”

“Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him,” Kobayakawa says, expression stern. “Don’t let him cause any trouble outside…”

“Well, I’ll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he’s in.”

Kawakami sighs. “Come to the faculty office when you each arrive at school tomorrow,” she says, addressing both Rin and Kurusu again. “I’ll show you to your classroom.”

They’re all waved out of the office without much fanfare after that. Kurusu and his guardian are a ways ahead of them already and Akane has to hustle Rin a little in order to catch up to them. Even if Kobayakawa and Kawakami aren’t going to enforce the “buddy system” bullshit, Kurusu is going to be _really_ lonely starting at a new school with no friends and an unforgiving rumor mill. She can at least give him a leg up.

“They’re treating you like some kinda nuisance…” she can hear Sakura muttering. “I guess that’s what it means to have a criminal record. Turns out your past follows you wherever you go. By the way… if you get expelled now, I won’t hesitate to kick you out. Got it?”

“I’ll be careful,” Kurusu says, his voice soft and smooth, reminding Akane of perfectly blended coffee.

“Hey!” Akane calls. “Excuse me!”

Kurusu and Sakura turn to look at her as she runs up to them and she chances a quick glance back to make sure she hasn’t lost Rin in the chase. He’s standing several feet away, not quite close enough for regular conversation, but good enough.

“I just wanted to introduce myself,” Akane explains. “And Rin. I know its hard making new friends when you transfer halfway through high school, and Shujin can be brutal in that department.”

Kurusu looks a little lost. He glances at his guardian who shrugs with a ‘don’t look at me’ expression.

“Uh… okay?”

“Great! I’m Himura Akane and this is my little brother, Kuroyashi Rin. It’s nice to meet you!” Akane chirps.

Kurusu looks like he doesn’t know what to do with her enthusiasm and its giving Akane some _major_ Deja vu. He’s like getting to know Rin all over again.

“Uh. I’m Kurusu Akira. Nice to meet you?”

“Since it sounds like you and Rin are in the same class, we’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other,” Akane says, trying to tone down her emoting a little since that’s what seems to be making Kurusu the most uncomfortable right now. “If you ever see me around, feel free to say hi! And try to make friends with Rin, he needs more.”

Rin doesn’t argue with her, which is telling in how much he feels some sort of connection to Kurusu. But perhaps most telling is that, during the conversation, he’s gravitated into their orbit and now stands at Akane’s elbow, less than an arms width away from Kurusu. The only other person he’ll allow that near to him is Yukiko, and even that’s only on a good day.

“…Wannaexchangecontacts?” Rin rushes out, his voice soft and tiny.

Akane blinks in surprise and can’t help beaming with pride. She refuses to say anything to help this along, but she hopes Kurusu agrees. Rin’s never been this forward about making a friend before.

“Oh. Sure. I guess,” Kurusu says, surprised.

Akane feels like doing a little victory dance, but refrains. That might be too much emoting for the two emotionally challenged boys in front of her.

Rin and Kurusu exchange contact information and they part ways in front of the school, Akane and Rin heading towards the train station, while Kurusu and Sakura go to the parking lot for Sakura’s car.

“You made a friend,” Akane comments, once they’re safely on the train heading for Shibuya, where they’ll transfer to Motomachi Chukagai for the final leg of their journey to Akane’s home.

“He’s like me,” Rin says.

“Animotophobic?” Akane asks dryly.

Rin shoots her the look that comment deserves and says, “No. Don’t be sarcastic, I _know_ you know that’s not actually what I have. I _mean_ he’s alexithymic.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Akane agrees, ignoring the looks people are giving them for the way she’s guarding Rin’s personal space like the world’s most loyal knight in shining armor. “I don’t think its quite as severe, but he reminds me a lot of you.”

They fall into comfortable silence, and Akane is playing a game on her cellphone when she notices Rin move out of the corner of her eye. She looks up to find him sitting ramrod straight in his seat looking around frantically.

“Rin?”

Things happen very quickly after that. Rin’s head snaps around at the sound of her voice and at almost the same instant the train gives a violent shudder, sending people off balance. Rin lunges off his seat, practically tackling Akane to the floor as the lights flicker and the train shudders and lurches, an unholy shrieking and grating sound coming from all around the train. Akane wraps her arms around Rin as he curls protectively over her. Akane has half a second to think, ‘Ohmygod we’re all going to die,’ before the train crashes into Shibuya station and the entire car flips over.

~

Kurusu: received April 10, 7:10 pm  
I heard there was an accident at Shibuya station. Did you and your sister make it home alright?  
Kurusu: received April 11, 8:05 am  
I’m lost and its raining. Send help.  
Kurusu: received April 11, 12:21 pm  
I’m going to be late for class.  
Kurusu: received April 11, 1:12 pm  
Nevermind, you’re not in class.

Me: sent April 11, 1:15 pm  
did you just make it to class

Kurusu: received April 11, 1:16 pm  
I got lost.

Me: sent April 11, 1:17 pm  
sure  
Me: sent April 11, 1:19 pm  
im willing to give you the benefit of the doubt

Kurusu: received April 11, 1:20 pm  
Thank you.

Me: sent April 11, 2:03 pm  
to answer your above question  
Me: sent April 11, 2:05 pm  
my sister and i were involved with the train accident  
Me: sent April 11, 2:08 pm  
neither of us are badly injured  
Me: sent April 11, 2:10 pm  
but we wont be in school for a few days

Kurusu: received April 11, 2:15 pm  
That sucks.

Me: sent April 11, 2:17 pm  
be forewarned…

Kurusu: received April 11, 2:18 pm  
About?

Me: sent April 11, 2:21 pm  
i think my sister is sending her best friend to make friends with you  
Me: sent April 11, 2:24 pm  
shes pretty ok though  
Me: sent April 11, 2:25 pm  
quiet

Kurusu: received April 11, 3:15 pm  
Sounds like the opposite of the guy I met today.  
Kurusu: received April 11, 3:17 pm  
I could use some quiet, probably.  
Kurusu: received April 11, 3:20 pm  
It’s so loud…

Me: sent April 11, 3:25 pm  
my sister wants to know if there are already rumors

Kurusu: received April 11, 3:27 pm  
I can’t go two steps without hearing one about me.

Me: sent April 11, 3:29 pm  
neechan says to ask yukiko for the complete damage control package

Kurusu: received: April 11, 3:30 pm  
The what?

Me: sent April 11, 3:34 pm  
i have no idea

~

Yukiko watches as the transfer student that she’s supposed to be, “making friendly with, but like, not _too_ friendly, because he’s almost as much of an emotionally stunted mess as Rin!”—Akane’s words—goes up to the roof and sighs. Emotionally stunted messes are _Akane’s_ specialty, not Yukiko’s. Though if Akane is to be believed, they’re now Rin’s specialty too, since he decided to go and befriend the transfer student _of his own initiative_.

Yukiko heaves another sigh and then follows the transfer student up the stairwell to the roof. She can hear voices through the door to the roof, presumably his and somebody else’s, and she doesn’t mean to _eavesdrop_ per se, but she can’t help but overhear.

“—I mean, even if it was a dream, you saved me from Kamoshida,” a rough, brash voice is saying. “So yeah… Thanks, Akira.”

“You’re welcome,” comes a quiet response.

“But man, that Kamoshida we saw there… You prolly don’t know about it, but there are some rumors about him,” the first voice says, and _this_ , at least Yukiko is familiar with. She makes it her business to deal in rumors, so of course she knows every single one surrounding Kamoshida, both good and bad.

“That guy we met earlier?”

“Yeah, the ripped mophead,” the first voice responds with a derisive snort, and Yukiko has to stifle a giggle to prevent giving away her position. “That asshole who was all full of himself at the castle.” _Castle?_ “No one says anything against him ‘cause he’s some medalist who took the volleyball team to nationals. The way Kamoshida was king of that castle felt crazy real ‘cause of that…”

What the hell are they talking about? A castle where Kamoshida was king? That doesn’t make any sense, even if, in a purely metaphorical sense, it makes a lot of sense.

“…I wonder if we can go back to that castle again…” the first voice muses. “Ugh, forget it. Must’ve all been a dream! It has to be!”

There’s a short pause and Yukiko can hear the two speakers shifting and the sound of a chair getting pushed back as one of them stands up and recognizes that the conversation is coming to a close. If she doesn’t want to get caught eavesdropping, she needs to get out of here.

Yukiko makes it back to the entrance of the stairwell just as she hears the door to the roof open. Sakamoto Ryuji comes down the stairs and passes her without a second glance. Yukiko only has to wait a few more moments before she hears the squeak of the roof door again and footsteps in the stairwell. Kurusu Akira appears at the bottom of the stairs and blinks at Yukiko.

“Kurusu Akira?” she asks, like she doesn’t already know.

“…Yeah?” Geez, he sounds like he thinks he’s going to get in trouble.

“Uchihara Yukiko,” she introduces herself. “Akane sent me to make nice.”

“Oh,” he says. “Hey, does the phrase, ‘complete damage control package’ mean anything to you?”

She blinks. “Yes, actually, it does. I assume Akane told you to ask for it.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well, for context, my family runs a really big news company. Newspapers, newscasts, radio, you name it,” Yukiko explains. “Managing the rumor mill is practically in my blood. I dissolve rumors that people don’t want going around and circulate rumors that people want spread, for a fee of course. However, since this rumor got spread without my permission, and since it’s since Akane’s my friend, this time it’s on the house.

“Give me one week and the rumors about you will be gone,” Yukiko grins. “Any rumors you want me to spread around in their place?”

Kurusu goes to shake his head, then stops. He pauses, considering.

“Can I get some time to think about it?” he asks.

Yukiko shrugs and nods. “Not too long, cos I’ve gotta start circulating the new rumors before the rumor mill gets a chance to move on to something else,” she says. “I can give you three days at most.”

Kurusu nods in thanks.

“Here, let me give you my contact info,” Yukiko says, holding her hand out for his phone. When he hesitates, she adds. “You can call or text me when you decide on the rumors you want spread.”

He passes over his phone and she quickly enters her information, noting that the only other contact in his phone is Rin’s.

“I usually hang out in the courtyard after classes,” Yukiko tells him. “I like the fresh air after being cooped up all day, and its surprisingly peaceful. You should join me sometime.”

“Thanks,” he says, sounding surprised, but genuinely grateful. “I might take you up on that.”

~

( _22 hours ago, April 10_ )

Akechi Goro has had a _very_ long day. This is the eighth one in the last month, and as much as he likes feeling needed and wants people to like him, he would really appreciate a coma right about now.

God _damn_ he’s hungry. And _tired_. He’s gotta get out of Mementos and back to the courthouse to meet Niijima after her meeting with the SIU director. She’ll probably have a case related to the train incident for him solve and pretend he didn’t know the answer to the whole time. Maybe he can get her to treat him to sushi. He can’t really do anything about the other problem, though.

As he’s thinking that, he hears the rattling of chains that signals its time to book it to the nearest train platform and get the hell out of dodge before he runs into the Reaper and gets that coma he was wishing for. However, he’s also hearing terrified screaming that doesn’t normally accompany the Reaper’s arrival in Mementos.

Because he never claimed to not be an idiot, and also he’s _curious_ , Goro sticks close to the shadows and follows the sounds until he peers around a corner and gets a glimpse of the hulking figure of the Reaper moving towards him down the tunnel. Its chasing two teenagers, a boy and a girl, who are very much _NOT_ shadows, and Goro didn’t think anyone but him had access to the Metaverse. They’re both wearing high school uniforms, and the boy has platinum blond hair while the girl’s is the color of freshly spilled blood.

They’re holding hands, running as fast as they can over the unfamiliar terrain in blind panic, but the Reaper is gaining on them. With a downward cut of its arm, the Reaper forces the teens to separate, and then with a brutal swipe, it sends the girl flying back several meters to crash into the wall and slump to the floor, unconscious.

The boy screams and drops to his knees, trembling, and Goro feels sick to his stomach. These are _real_ , _living people_ and he can’t do anything but watch them die because the Reaper is impossible to beat. When was the last time he felt anything but numb in the face of someone else’s death?

The Reaper advances on the boy, who isn’t even looking at it, he’s screaming at the girl on the other side of the room, begging her to get up, to move, but Goro knows she won’t. He heard the sickening _crack_ as her body hit the stone and crumpled.

The Reaper points its shotgun at the boy’s head, and he finally looks up at it. Goro would think his eyes would be wide with terror and his face wet with tears.

He doesn’t expect an expression of rabid fury to rival that of anyone Loki cast a Rage Fugue on, and a hazy mask over the boy’s face.

The boy shudders and doubles over, his hands scrabbling at his face, and Goro ducks back around the corner just in time as the boy _screams_ and rips the half-formed mask off his face, a wave of fire rippling outward off of him, forcing the Reaper back.

When the heat dissipates and Goro peers back around the corner, the boy is wearing a black visor and red bodysuit, with a katana slung over his back and a gun holstered at his hip, though it seems distorted, and keeps shifting between that and his high school uniform. A hazy shimmering light hovers over his shoulder, like its trying to get his attention.

The boy ignores the light and grabs the handle of his katana. He crouches, and with a blur of motion that Goro is unable to follow and a flash of light, the Reaper disintegrates into shadow.

…Wait.

_What the actual fuck._

With the danger gone the boy’s clothes return to normal and he stumbles over to the girl, collapsing when he reaches her side.

Goro takes a moment to collect his wits—seriously, what the fuck just happened—then calls upon Robin Hood and approaches the two teens. The girl is still seriously injured and in need of healing, and the boy is probably very shaken.

Once he reaches them, it becomes apparent that the boy isn’t even conscious. He hopes that means that they’ll both think it was just some crazy dream. The girl probably won’t remember anything at all actually, with a head wound like she has, so Goro only really has to worry about the boy, and he will hopefully think it was a dream when he wakes up in the hospital and the doctors tell him he was in a train accident.

Goro casts Recarm on the girl to heal her enough so that she can be moved. Then, with the help of Robin Hood, he transports the two teens back to the entrance of Mementos and returns to the real world.

There’s enough chaos inside the subways that no one notices when Goro appears supporting two unconscious teens. He shuffles through the people until he finds a paramedic.

“They were on the train with me,” he explains to the nurse. “The girl got knocked around pretty bad, I think she might have hit her head, but I don’t think the boy was injured in the crash.”

“Thank you,” the nurse says, looking frazzled. “Are you hurt at all? We can give you medical attention.”

“Just some bumps and bruises,” Goro says with a winning smile. “Nothing to worry about. Its more important to care for the people who were seriously injured in the crash.”

The nurse looks like she wants to press him into at least letting her check him over, but she’s thankfully called away. Goro checks the time and curses. He needs to get to the courthouse to meet Sae.

He makes a mental note to check on the teens later and make sure they don’t remember anything from their trip to Metaverse—or at least think it was a dream. And rushes out of the train station.

He’s so, _so_ tired.

~

Kurusu Akira’s first day at Shujin Academy was a misadventure, to say the least. He met Sakamoto Ryuji, was transported to an alternate dimension via a cellphone app, was nearly killed by the cognitive world’s version of his perverted gym teacher, awakened to the rebellious spirit residing within him, sprung a monster cat named Morgana free from its cell, and punched monsters in the face. Then he returned to the real world, made it to school in time for lunch, and spent the rest of the school day listening to his classmates spread rumors about him.

Sakamoto asked him to meet on the roof after class and, after a brief discussion of Kamoshida and the castle, they part ways. He meets Uchihara Yukiko after that, who introduces herself as the friend Kuroyashi mentioned would be coming.

He notices right away that she’s tall, only a few inches shorter than him wearing flats. She has black eyes like the night sky and pale, unblemished skin. Her black hair is pulled up into two thick space buns on either side of her head. She wears a dark blue kimono shawl over her Shujin uniform, with a thick black belt holding it closed around her middle.

She offers her services to help with the rumors, claiming it as a favor to Himura, but he suspects she would do it anyways. There’s a lonely helplessness in her eyes that he recognizes when she invites him to join her after school sometimes.

Tokyo is full of lonely, heartbroken people, helpless to do anything against the system that wronged them. Akira is among them now. He wishes he could do something, but he’s just as much a prisoner to the system as everyone else.

He returns to Leblanc after he and Uchihara part ways.

He gives Sojiro and abridged excuse for why he was late to school so Sojiro can dismiss it and send him off to his room after locking up.

As soon as he sits down on his bed, the exhaustion from the day suddenly catches up with him. It occurs to him that the alternate reality and awakening his true self might have taken more out of him than he first thought.

He changes for bed and is asleep almost immediately after his head hits the pillow.

…

Kurusu Akira wakes up in a prison cell. He can’t remember how he got here. He can hear piano music and a woman’s voice singing in the background.

When he sits up, a harsh voice calls out, “About time you’ve come to.” Something clangs against the prison doors as the voice exclaims, “On your feet, Inmate!”

“Our master wishes to speak with you,” a second voice says, similar to the first, but soft where the first is loud and detached where the first is emotive. “It’s for your own sake that you take his words to heart.”

Akira approaches the cell door, looking out at the circular room beyond. A simple wooden desk sits it the middle of the room, decorated with a lamp and feather quill. A strange, imp-like man is seated in the velvet chair behind the desk, his legs crossed, and elbows propped on the table, gloved hands folded under his chin as he surveys Akira with beady, bloodshot eyes.

Two small girls stand at attention to either side of Akira’s prison door, each with blonde hair and a blue prison uniform. The girl to his right wears her hair in a long braid down her back and has an eyepatch over her right eye. The girl to his left wears her hair in two neat buns at the back of her head and has an eyepatch over her left eye.

The rounded walls of the room are lined with empty prison cells.

“First off, let us celebrate our reunion,” the man at the desk says, his voice deep and seeming to fill every inch of the room, seeping into cracks and filling holes. “Oh…? You’ve awakened to your powers. And special ones at that. Your rehabilitation can finally begin.”

“Rehabilitation?” Akira asks.

“There is no need to understand it all for the time being,” the man replies. “You will be training the power of Persona, which you have awakened to. Persona’s are, in other words, a “mask”—an armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters. I have high expectations for you.”

The man goes on to explain the use of the Metaverse Navigator, which acts as the Google Maps of the Metaverse and allows him to traverse between reality and Palaces. He continues to say that should Akira find others that prove to be beneficial, they will be bestowed the Metaverse Navigator as well.

“This is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief…” the man says, a wide grin stretching across his face.

A bell rings faintly in the distance.

“Hmph, it’s time,” the girl on the right says. “Go back and enjoy whatever rest you might have…”

The prison and its music fade away and Akira finds himself waking up in his room above Leblanc the next morning.

~

When Akane first woke up in the hospital almost twenty hours after the train accident, she couldn’t remember the events from the day before. The doctors told her that she and Rin had been pulled off the train by another passenger and brought to the paramedics, but something about the story just didn’t feel right. When she told Rin that she couldn’t remember the train crash, or anything after that, his face went carefully blank.

“Maybe that’s for the best,” he said. “It was terrifying.”

But whatever _Rin_ thinks is terrifying is _definitely_ not something he should have to face alone. And Akane hates that she can’t remember. Hates the way he stares off into space and _won’t. Talk. To. Her._

But then Rin is smirking at his phone texting the new transfer student, Kurusu, and maybe Akane doesn’t _need_ to get him to talk to her. She laughs as Rin tells her about how Kurusu was late on his first day of school because he supposedly got lost, and she can tell that Rin doesn’t believe the excuse by the way he rolls his eyes.

There are a million reasons why the boy was late on his first day, and having recognized that similarity to Rin in Kurusu, Akane thinks she has a pretty good guess as to why. He probably felt anxious, having to face a new school where he doesn’t know anyone and already his homeroom teacher and principal think he’s a delinquent. Maybe he had an anxiety attack or maybe he deliberately skipped. Akane wouldn’t blame him either way.

Thinking that, she decides to send a text to Yukiko. His first day is already almost over, but Kurusu would probably appreciate Yukiko’s quiet, unassuming company and Akane knows Yukiko could use another friend that’s not in it for her family’s money. Something tells her that Kurusu doesn’t care about things like that.

Its nice. Being able to help people.

Akane recalls a muddled memory of a boy with long hair and panicked russet eyes, his voice sounding like she’s hearing it from underwater, calling for _Loki_ and a flash of green light. Is this memory from the train accident? She can’t quite remember the details, but the boy’s face, the panic written clear across every line even with the emptiness of his eyes stays with her. She knows, somehow, that he saved her life.

And yet, the haunted look in his eyes begs the question… is there anyone to save his?

~

Akira is ambushed by Sakamoto after class again, and even though he knows the other boy means well and even feels kind of warm at the thought that he might want to be friends, Sakamoto is _loud_ and _exhausting_ to deal with.

“I wanna find out what’s up with that place, no matter what,” Sakamoto tells him. “And y’know, you’re the only person I can rely on for this stuff. So, you in?”

Akira’s first instinct is to tell Sakamoto to fuck off and stick his good intentions where the sun doesn’t shine. Because that’s what society has been teaching him since his hearing. And more importantly, its what his parents have tried to beat into him since the day he was born.

But Akira was always a rebel.

“Sure. What next?”

“Awesome!” Sakamoto exclaims, his volume nearly making Akira wince. “Hey, so, can I call you Akira? You can call me Ryuji! I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday. In the meantime, you’re walkin’ to the station, right? Let’s go together. Lemme know if you notice any other weird buildings on the way.”

Akira shrugs and nods, deciding to just go along with it for now. Sakamoto—Ryuji—doesn’t seem like a bad guy, even if he is kind of a dumbass. His heart’s in the right place, probably.

They walk together back to the place where they first met yesterday, stopping under the awning of the entrance to the subways as Ryuji says, “If a huge castle like that really exists, I’m sure we’ll find it in no time.”

Akira privately disagrees, because he’s still not sure what they saw yesterday was even real. The strange dream he had last night seems to point towards the idea the castle was a part of some other dimension, but he’s not entirely convinced the dream of the Velvet Room and its twin wardens was real either.

“…When’d they build something like that though?” Ryuji is musing, pulling Akira out of his meandering thoughts. Ryuji looks around, then points down one of the alleys leading in the general direction of the school. “…We walked that way from here, right?”

Akira shrugs. He’s got a good shrug. Not dismissive or defiant, but perfectly smooth and casual with his eyes downcast. It’s saved him from many arguments from his parents.

But Ryuji isn’t his parents, isn’t even an adult, and when Akira realizes that, he quickly corrects himself and says, “Maybe,” looking up to meet Ryuji’s eyes.

“When you put it that way, I’m not so sure anymore…” Ryuji sighs, scratching roughly at the back of his head. He looks around again, then squares his shoulders and turns in the direction of the alley he pointed towards. “All right let’s try this way. Lemme know if you notice something.”

Akira follows him as Ryuji leads him through the unfamiliar alleys and streets back to Shujin’s entrance.

“We’re at school…” Ryuji bemoans, hanging his head. “There wasn’t anything out of place along the way, right? I didn’t see no castle either… We must’ve made a wrong turn somewhere. Let’s try again.”

“Again…?” Akira says rolling his eyes because he already knows they didn’t make a wrong turn anywhere and if they try again, they’ll just end up at Shujin again.

“Don’t worry,” Ryuji assures him. “I won’t mess up this time.”

Akira wonders how you can mess up something that would never have worked in the first place, but keeps it to himself, following Ryuji back to the station, and then taking the winding shortcut through the backstreets to Shujin again.

They stop in front of the school and Akira leans back against the stone wall while Ryuji looks around as if the castle might materialize in front of him.

“For real…?” Ryuji says, hanging his head in defeat.

Ryuji comes over to lean back against the wall next to Akira, dropping his schoolbag on the ground next to him.

“Is it smaller than we think it is?” Ryuji wonders aloud, staring up at the sky. “What do you think?”

Akira does his practiced shrug again, then winces as he realizes what he’s done.

“Check on your phone…?” he mumbles.

“I already did that,” Ryuji pouts, kicking at the ground. “I didn’t see anything like it around here… Huh? Phone…”

Suddenly, Ryuji pushes himself off the wall, seemingly getting a brainwave.

“Hey, that reminds me—didn’t you have a navigation app thingy on, back then?”

“Navigation app?” Akira repeats stupidly.

“I dunno if it was of not,” Ryuji stutters, “but I heard stuff that sounded like one comin’ from your phone. Y’know, didn’t it say stuff like ‘returned to the real world’ or something like that?”

Akira thinks abruptly of the man in the Velvet Room and his talk of the Metaverse Navigator and feels like someone’s poured a bucket of ice water down the back of his shirt.

“Lemme see your phone for a bit,” Ryuji says, and Akira reluctantly takes his phone out and surrenders it to his enthusiastic new friend.

“What’s this eyeball-lookin’ thing?” Ryuji asks, after poking through Akira’s phone for a few moments.

“I can’t delete it…” Akira tells him.

“Wait, what?”

Akira shrugs, for real this time, because he really has no idea. The app appeared his first day in Tokyo and he’s deleted it three times already and it keeps coming back. Like a really persistent cold. Or a particular blond loudmouth.

“What a weird app…” says Ryuji. “…Oh wait, this is it! I knew it—it _is_ a navigation app! There’s even your search history! Awe man, I’m such a genius!”

Not exactly the words Akira would use, but whatever.

“Let’s try usin’ it,” Ryuji says excitedly, tapping at the app.

“I dunno about this…”

He’s too late though. With a cheery _ding_ , the app speaks in a feminine voice, “Kamoshida… Shujin Academy… Pervert… Castle… Beginning navigation.”

“There we go!” Ryuji exclaims. “…Then, we went in a certain direction, and—”

But it seems they won’t even have to move, as reality distorts around them. Akira looks up as the sky darkens and the atmosphere thickens.

“Hey… what the hell?!” Ryuji exclaims looking around.

They both look down at Akira’s phone as the red eyeball of the Metaverse Navigator takes over the screen and begins glowing. With a flash of red light, reality twists and warps further until they’re no longer standing in front of Shujin Academy, but Kamoshida’s castle.

Akira glances down and takes note that he’s already wearing the strange outfit he got yesterday when he awakened Arsene, the one that makes him feel confident and cocky and badass rather than awkward and quiet and anxious. He can already feel his nerves sliding away at the feel of Arsene’s calming presence in the back of his mind and unconsciously straightens his spine and throws back his shoulders.

“Look! It’s the castle from yesterday!” Ryuji exclaims.

“Really?” Akira drawls. “Where? I don’t see it.”

Ryuji snorts and rolls his eyes at him before running through the gate and Akira smirks as he follows his friend up to the front doors of the castle.

“We made it back…” Ryuji says, wonderingly. “That means what happened yesterday was for real too… Yeargh! Those clothes…!” He seems to have just noticed Akira’s wardrobe change. “That happened last time too, huh!? What’s with that outfit?!”

“You jelly?” Akira asks, winking.

“N-no way!!” Ryuji sputters. “Do you mean to say you actually _like_ it?!” His voice is becoming more and more high pitched with each passing moment and Akira is _highly_ entertained.

“What’s goin’ on here?!” Ryuji squawks, his voice cracking. “This makes no effin’ sense at all…”

“Hey!”

Akira whips around at the new voice while Ryuji _screams_ and jumps about three feet off the ground.

Morgana runs up to them with a disapproving expression on his catty face.

“Stop making a commotion,” he hisses at Ryuji.

“Ah… You!?”

“The Shadows started acting up, so I came here wondering what it could be…” Morgana says, shaking his head a little in disappointment. “…To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape.”

Hey, Akira thinks he did pretty well once he had Arsene on his side, for the record. Arsene hums his rumbling approval in the back of his mind.

“What is this place?” Ryuji asks. “…Is it the school?”

“That’s right.”

“But it’s a castle!” Ryuji argues, and Akira is going to burn the memory of Ryuji arguing with a cat and _losing_ into his brain for the rest of his life because its one of the most entertaining things he’s ever seen.

“This castle _is_ the school,” Morgana explains impatiently. “…But only to this castle’s ruler.”

“The castle’s ruler…?” Ryuji scratches his head.

“I think you called him Kamoshida?” Morgana replies. “It’s how his distorted heart views the school.”

“Kamoshida… Distorted…?” Ryuji mumbles, looking hopelessly lost, and Akira wants to tell him to sit down and put his head between his knees because he looks on the brink of a panic attack or passing out. Ryuji and Akira exchange glances, and then Ryuji stomps his foot, seemingly regaining his equilibrium. “Explain it in a way that makes sense!” he yells.

“I shouldn’t have expected a moron to get it…” Morgana sighs, exasperated.

“What’d you say!?”

“Calm down, he’s baiting you,” Akira says, putting a grounding hand on Ryuji’s shoulder.

They’re interrupted from further discussion by a terrible scream coming from inside the castle. Like something out of a horror movie.

“What was that?!” Ryuji panics.

“It must be the slaves captive here,” Morgana says, sounding awfully nonchalant about it.

“For real!?” Ryuji exclaims, shocked and horrified.

Akira can’t say he disagrees with the sentiment.

Another agonized wail echoes from within the castle. Morgana licks a paw and rubs behind his ear.

“Oh, shit… It’s for real! We saw other guys held captive here yesterday… I’m pretty sure they’re from our school,” Ryuji contemplates.

“Most likely on Kamoshida’s orders,” Morgana shrugs. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary; it’s like that every day here. What’s more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit.”

Akira frowns. It kind of sounds like Morgana is insinuating that its _their_ fault Kamoshida is torturing the slaves held captive in the castle.

“That son of a bitch!” Ryuji curses.

“Ryuji…?” Morgana asks hesitantly.

“This is bullshit!” Ryuji screams. And then he runs at the door and rams into it with his shoulder, like he’s going to turn himself into a battering ram to break into the castle. “YOU HEAR ME, KAMOSHIDA?!”

“Doing that isn’t going to open it, you know…” Morgana says. “Still, it seems you have your reasons.”

“Hey, Monamona!” Ryuji yells, stalking back to them, and oh boy, he’s all fired up now.

“It’s _Morgana_!” the cat hisses.

“Do you know where those voices are comin’ from…?” Ryuji asks, completely ignoring him.

“You want me to take you to them?” Morgana asks, shaking his head in disbelief. He looks at Akira, eyeing him thoughtfully, and Akira sees the scheming light in the cat’s eyes. “…Well, I guess I could guide you there. But only if he comes with us.”

Akira wants to know what Morgana is scheming, but it doesn’t matter at the moment. And Ryuji will find a way to get to the prisoners even if they say no to Morgana, so he might as well go along with it. He’s sure to find out what Morgana wants with him so badly soon enough.

“Let’s go.”

“It’s settled then!” Morgana purrs, sounding smug and pleased, like a cat who caught the mouse and was rewarded with cream.

“For real…!?” Ryuji grins at Akira in relief and gratitude, and _that_ at least, makes it all worth it, in Akira’s opinion. “Thanks, man.”

“All right, let’s do this,” Morgana says, confident and self-assured. “Follow me!”

~

Me: sent April 12, 3:45 pm  
I overheard an interesting conversation between Sakamoto-kun and Kurusu-kun yesterday.

Rin-chan: received April 12, 3:52 pm  
so you were eavesdropping  
Rin-chan: received April 12, 3:53 pm  
why

Me: sent April 12, 3:58 pm  
I didn’t mean to!  
Me: sent April 12, 4:01 pm  
And I prefer “information-gathering” to eavesdropping.

Rin-chan: received April 12, 4:04 pm  
same difference  
Rin-chan: received April 12, 4:06 pm  
so whatd you hear

Me: sent April 12, 4:08 pm  
I didn’t really know what to make of it…  
Me: sent April 12, 4:12 pm  
I heard Sakamoto-kun talking about a castle, where Kurusu-kun saved him from Kamoshida?  
Me: sent April 12, 4:15 pm  
He seemed unsure whether it was real or not.

Rin-chan: received April 12, 4:17 pm  
wtf

Me: sent April 12, 4:18 pm  
It gets weirder.

Rin-chan: received April 12, 4:20 pm  
HOW

Me: sent April 12, 4:23 pm  
Because I followed them again today.  
Me: sent April 12, 4:25 pm  
You would not BELIEVE the things I have seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? I feel like that ending in particular was INSPIRED XD What are your thoughts on Akechi encountering and saving Rin and Akane in the Metaverse? How about Rin's partial awakening to his Persona? What do you think it will take to push him to a full awakening? Any predictions on what his Persona will be? I'll give you a hint, I took inspiration from Studio Ghibli for it, and his idea of rebellion is "a leap of faith" XD
> 
> Up next: Yukiko and Rin visit Kamoshida's palace...
> 
> Remember to leave a comment and show your support if you like this! Even if its something small, even if its a list of your reactions while reading, even if its a bunch of emojis, I will be THRILLED. I try to respond to each of my comments, because they all mean so much to me, and I hope you know that. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well would you look at that! Chapter 2 is up! And it only took 3 months to finish it XD
> 
> Read it and cherish it you terrible trash bags.

Rin walks up to where Yukiko is pacing in front of the school at quarter after five, her face contorted with worry.

“Yo,” he says, and Yukiko stops pacing and spins around to face him, pinning him with her dark-eyed stare.

Rin thinks its probably meant to be disconcerting.

“How’s Akane?” Yukiko asks, after a beat. “She got released this morning, right?”

“Insufferable,” Rin replies, deadpan. “As soon as we left the hospital, she tried to scale a building. And then she tried to convince me that parkour doesn’t count as “strenuous activity”, because the doctors only cleared her for light activity for the next three weeks.”

Yukiko snorts. “Sounds like Akane.”

“But we’re not here to talk about Akane,” Rin reminds her. “We’re here to snoop.”

“ _Information gathering_ ,” Yukiko insists.

“Same difference.”

“You’re _awful_.”

Rin rolls his eyes. “Your texts weren’t very informative,” he says. “You said you followed Akira and Sakamoto today? What did you see?”

“They were trying to get to the castle they were talking about yesterday,” Yukiko says, “only, they kept ending up at the school.”

Rin frowns. “So…?”

“Well eventually Sakamoto-kun remembered that Kurusu-kun had a navigation app on at the time and asked to see his phone,” Yukiko explains. “He found this red eye logo app that turned out to be a navigation app with the search history for Kamoshida’s castle in it.”

Rin blinks. “…A… red eye app?” He thinks back to the strange, undeletable app that appeared on his phone after the subway accident that ended with he and Akane in a twisted subway system being chased by a monster that nearly killed both of them. An app with a stylized, red and black eye.

“Yeah,” Yukiko says with a shrug. “I think the key words were ‘Kamoshida, Shujin Academy, Pervert, and Castle.’”

A cheery _chime_ sounds from Rin’s pocket, even though he always keeps his phone on silent. He pulls it out and frowns down at his phone, where the strange app has activated itself and is now showing a loading screen with the red and black eye.

“What is it?” Yukiko asks.

“Some weird app,” Rin tells her, turning his phone around to show her.

“Hey… where did you get that?” Yukiko asks.

“I dunno. It just showed up.”

His screen flashes red and the world around them distorts and seems to go dark. Rin and Yukiko have half a second to exchanged panicked looks before reality warps and Shujin is replaced by a medieval castle, complete with a mote and drawbridge.

“What. The _fuck_ ,” Yukiko emphasizes, staring slack-jawed at the castle.

Rin is more preoccupied with his new attire; a dark red body suit made of some sort of scaly material, a gun holstered at his hip and a katana slung across his back. His eyes are covered by a vizor of some sort, darkening his vision slightly and highlighting weak points of the caste’s exterior walls in hot pink.

“Weird,” he says, not really feeling any particularly strong way about it.

“What are you wearing?!” Yukiko squawks, her eyes bugging out as she catches sight of his clothes.

“No idea.”

She closes her eyes and tilts her head up, pinching the bridge of her nose and breathing in deep through her nose and out through her mouth a few times.

“Okay,” she says. “Compartmentalizing. So, we’re at a castle.”

“Looks like it,” Rin agrees, turning in a slow circle to observe their surroundings.

“Could you be _less_ laissez-faire about this?” Yukiko snaps. “How are you so calm?”

“Well, we haven’t been attacked by a giant, gun wielding monster with a chain fetish yet,” Rin tells her. “Compared to my last visit, this is an improvement.”

There’s a beat of silence.

“ _Excusez-moi_?!” Rin winces at her volume. “Your _last_ visit?! When did you come here before?”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” he says, and aside from wishing Yukiko would calm down, he still doesn’t really feel anything. He thinks he likes it. “We just _ended up_ here. Or somewhere like here. I dunno.”

“ _We_?!”

“ _Fuck_.”

“ _KUROYASHI RIN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT THIS INSTANT_!”

God _damn_ , but Yukiko is _terrifying_. He thinks he’d rather face Jikken again than be on the receiving end of her wrath.

Actually, fuck that. He’ll take Yukiko over that hell hole any day.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on anymore than you do,” he tries to placate her. Her nostrils flare like a dragon getting ready to breathe fire. “I’ve only been there the once. With Akane, the day of the subway accident.”

“With… Akane?”

“She doesn’t remember,” Rin says. “I’m not going to tell her.”

Yukiko frowns. “Why not?”

Rin rolls his eyes. “Think about it,” he says. “This is Akane we’re talking about. She’d die to save the life of a stranger but holds no regard for her own safety. If we tell her about this, she’ll just find _another_ way to risk her life for everyone else.”

“Good point,” Yukiko says, her expression stricken, and Rin knows she’s on his side in this. “So, do we explore the castle?”

“Hell no,” Rin says flatly. “Akane and I almost died last time, I’m still not sure how we survived. For now, this place is too dangerous for us.”

“Kurusu and Sakamoto are exploring it!” Yukiko protests.

“And they probably shouldn’t be, but if they want to get themselves killed, that’s their prerogative,” Rin deadpans.

Yukiko frowns. “Don’t bullshit me,” she snaps. “You care about Kurusu, he’s your friend!”

Rin clenches his jaw and doesn’t reply. He doesn’t really know _how_ to reply. He does care about Akira. The other boy is a kindred spirit that no other person Rin’s met has managed to be for him. But Yukiko is a sister, one that’s been around nearly as long as Akane, and Rin cares far more for her wellbeing than Akira’s, even if that makes him coldhearted.

Rin doesn’t really know what he’s doing with his emotions on a good day, and today is hardly one of those. So, the best answer he can give Yukiko is, “We should go.”

He can tell she’s disappointed, but she doesn’t argue. She casts one last conflicted look at the castle before Rin presses the “return” button on the navigation app, and a smooth, female voice says, “You have returned to the real world. Welcome back.”

~

Me: sent April 12, 4:45 pm  
Let’s go to the gym when you get home!

♥Rin♥: received April 12, 4:48 pm  
no  
♥Rin♥: received April 12, 4:50 pm  
youre supposed to be resting

Me: sent April 12, 4:52 pm  
I’ve been resting all day :(  
Me: sent April 12, 4:54 pm  
I’m BORED

♥Rin♥: received April 12, 4:59 pm  
im bringing home the new mirrors edge game for you  
♥Rin♥: received April 12, 5:03 pm  
you can play when i get home

Me: sent April 12, 5:06 pm  
:o *le gasp!*  
Me: sent April 12, 5:07 pm  
ILY ♥

♥Rin♥: received April 12, 5:10 pm  
i know now go lay down

~

When Yukiko sees Kurusu and Sakamoto sneak away during the volleyball rally the next day, she doesn’t even make a conscious decision to follow them. With how suspicious Sakamoto is acting, she can’t help but want to snoop… _gather information_ a little.

The first thing they do is stop in class 2-D, which Yukiko knows is the class both Rin and Kurusu are in. Yukiko eavesdrops at the open hall windows as Kurusu and Sakamoto make straight for Honda Ken, the other volleyball player besides Yuuki Mishima in class 2-D. Honda has a patch over his left eye and a bandage tide around his head, holding an ice pack against the left side of his jaw.

Kurusu asks Honda how he got injured, which makes the other boy get suspiciously defensive, saying its from practice and asking what that has to do with anything.

Sakamoto says, “Kamoshida did it to you, right?” and tries to assure Honda they won’t tell anyone he tattled.

Yukiko kind of wants to bang her head against the wall, because this is _not_ how you get abuse victims to tell you they’re being abused! She knows better than anyone that forcing a confession just causes them to clam up further and get aggressively defensive.

Of course, Honda denies everything.

“Don’t try n’ hide it!” Sakamoto explodes, startling Yukiko enough that she jumps and drops her cellphone, which she was pretending to be playing a game on. “We already know!”

While Yukiko retrieves her phone, she hears Honda reply, “You… you know? You have proof”

Sakamoto stammers out something that amounts to “no,” and Honda gets aggressive again, saying, “This is ridiculous. Please leave me alone. You’re really bothering me!”

Kurusu and Sakamoto walk out into the hall. Yukiko stays where she is, leaning casually against the wall, pretending to play a game on her cell phone, barely glancing up as the boys pass.

They don’t even notice her.

They don’t go far before they stop to have another conversation, so Yukiko stays where she is to observe. Sakamoto looks frustrated and Kurusu looks as calm as always.

Shortly after, Kurusu and Sakamoto split up, and much as she wishes she could, Yukiko can’t be in two places at once, and makes the split-second decision to follow Kurusu. Sakamoto is too conspicuous to get any useful information from. Kurusu is the logical choice.

While Sakamoto heads towards the practice building, Kurusu goes to the first floor, to room 3-C. Just outside the classroom, a volleyball player Yukiko recognizes as Kimura Yoshi is talking to Matsuoka Kouji. Kimura has a bandage wrapped around his head, covering his right eye. His right arm is also braced.

Yukiko keeps out of sight around the corner and pulls her cellphone out again, and tunes in to the conversation.

Kurusu walks right up to them as asks Kimura how he got hurt. Predictably, Kimura replies that its from practice.

“Hey, I know who this guy is,” Matsuoka says. “He’s that transfer student who’s been hanging out with Sakamoto!”

“Oh, I get it,” Kimura replies. “You’re trying to snoop on Kamoshida-san, right? Look, our volleyball team performs at a national level. Of course our practices are gonna be tough. Kamoshida-san’s just dedicated to training us. Don’t believe everything Sakamoto says.”

“That’s corporal punishment,” Kurusu blandly informs them.

“D-don’t talk like you know!” Kimura snaps, suddenly nervous, where he was haughty before.

“Hey, we should stop talking to him,” Matsuoka says. “What if he loses it and starts attacking us? I heard he even carries a knife around. Who knows what he’s capable of?”

Yukiko _really_ needs to get started on those rumors. This is getting out of hand. The idea that Kurusu would even be able to bring a knife _into_ the school is laughable. Where are people getting these ideas?

Kurusu seems to be fed up with the conversation too, as he walks away without another word, pulling out his phone as he goes. Yukiko waits until he’s a good distance ahead, then follows again.

This time, Kurusu heads to the third floor, to room 1-B. There, he stops to talk with Nakamura Hibiki, while Yukiko lurks in the stairwell. Both of Nakamura’s wrists are braced, and Kurusu asks about them.

“O-oh, these…?” Nakamura stammers. “I-it, uh… It happened during practice. I mean, everyone on the team’s got injuries like this. Mishima-senpai has it especially bad though… He gets to deal with Kamoshida-san’s special coaching… O-oh, uh… Never mind! Forget I said anything!”

Yukiko can’t believe all this info she’s getting. She didn’t know anything about Kamoshida-san’s “special coaching.” That’s definitely something she’ll have to look into.

At that moment, the bell rings, and Yukiko has to scramble down the stairs to avoid getting caught snooping by Kurusu. She pauses at the bottom and he passes her after a short time, heading for the courtyard. Yukiko follows after he’s far enough ahead, and tails him to the vending machines. She finds a nice spot in the grass near her usual hangout, and sits down with a book to pretend to read.

Shortly after their arrival, Takamaki Ann joins Kurusu by the vending machines, asking to talk to him.

“What’s with you?” she asks, after Kurusu agrees to a conversation. “Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all. There’s that weird rumor about you too.”

“Whaddya want with him?” Sakamoto asks, appearing suddenly.

“Right back at you,” Takamaki snaps. “You’re not even in our class!”

“We just… happened to get to know each other,” Sakamoto replies, which is about the weakest argument Yukiko has ever heard. He could have just said they were friends.

“What’re you planning on doing to Kamoshida-san?” Takamaki asks.

Sakamoto makes a noise of surprise. Yukiko does too. Rumor says that Takamaki is dating Kamoshida-san, but everything Yukiko knows about the girl says that’s bullshit. Why does Takamaki care?

“…I see,” Sakamoto says, his voice icy, “I getcha. You’re all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all.”

“This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!” Takamaki snaps.

“If you found out what he’s been doin’ behind your back, you’d dump him right away,” Sakamoto tells her.

“Behind my back…?” Takamaki asks. “What’s that supposed to mean…?”

“You wouldn’t get it,” Sakamoto says.

“Anyway,” she says, trying to bounce back, “people are already talking about you two. I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but no one’s gonna help you. I’m warning you, just in case. That’s all.”

With that said, she walks away, leaving the boys by the vending machines.

“Why’s she gotta be so aggressive all the time…?” Sakamoto mutters.

“She seemed annoyed,” Kurusu muses in that faraway way of his.

“She’s been like that since middle school,” Sakamoto replies. “Anyways, that’s not what we’re here to talk about… I had no luck on my end. What about you? Did anything like someone’s name turn up?”

Yukiko thinks that’s oddly specific.

Kurusu tells him about Nakamura bringing up Yuuki Mishima’s name, and the special coaching.

“…Special ‘coaching,’ huh?” Sakamoto muses. “True. I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let’s go talk to him before he leaves then.”

Yukiko marks her place in her book and follows the boys out of the courtyard at a distance, tailing them to the front entrance, where they manage to catch Yuuki just as he’s leaving school.

“Hey!” Sakamoto says, coming across almost aggressively. “Got a second?”

“Sakamoto…?” Yuuki says, sounding alarmed. “And you, too…?!”

“C’mon, we just wanna chat,” Sakamoto says, annoyed. “Kamoshida’s been ‘coaching’ you, huh? You sure it’s not just physical abuse?”

“Certainly not!” Yuuki exclaims taking a step back. Yukiko doesn’t know how the boys haven’t learned that the direct approach doesn’t work yet.

“What’re you talkin’ all polite for?” Sakamoto laughs. “Anyways… We saw him spike you today. Right in the face.”

“That was just because I’m not good at the sport…” Yuuki defends. Yukiko wants to ask why he plays if he’s not good at it.

“Still, that doesn’t explain all the other bruises you’ve got,” Sakamoto says.

“They’re from practice…!” Yuuki snaps.

“Is he forcing you to keep quiet?” Sakamoto asks.

“That’s…”

“What’s going on here?” Kamoshida-san says, walking up to the group. “Mishima, isn’t it time for practice?”

“I-I’m not feeling well today…” Yuuki says, bowing his head as if in prayer.

“What? Maybe you’re better off quitting then,” Kamoshida-san says, almost taunting. “You’re never going to improve that crappy form unless you show up to practice.”

“Didn’t you hear?” Sakamoto says, getting up in Kamoshida-san’s face, jumping to Yuuki’s defense. “He ain’t feelin’ well!”

“Well, Mishima?” Kamoshida-san asks, completely ignoring Sakamoto. “Are you coming to practice or not?”

“…I’ll go.” Yuuki says, defeated.

Kamoshida-san gets up in Sakamoto’s face and speaks lowly, so soft that Yukiko almost doesn’t catch it, “As for you, any more trouble and you’ll be gone from this school for sure.”

It almost sounds like advice, but that was definitely a threat.

Kamoshida-san turns to Kurusu and says, “Same goes for you. Didn’t the principal tell you to keep in line?”

“You have an amazing spike,” Kurusu replies, quiet and calm but that was some serious sass.

“Hmph,” Kamoshida-san huffs. “Just don’t get in the way of my practice. All these unsettling rumors are making the students anxious, after all.”

“That’s your own goddamn fault,” Sakamoto says.

“Pfft. This won’t get us anywhere. Let’s go, Mishima.” Kamoshida-san turns to leave, then pauses and says, “Shujin Academy is a place where those with aspirations come to learn. Unworthy students like yourselves don’t have any right to be here. Get with the program!”

“Yes sir…” Yuuki responds, almost automatically.

As Kamoshida-san walks away, Sakamoto spits and says, “That asshole… He’s gonna pay for this!”

“There’s no point.” Yuuki says. “Proving that he’s physically abusing us… is meaningless. Everybody knows… The principal, our parents… they all know, and they all keep quiet about it.”

Yukiko can’t believe what she’s hearing.

“This has gotta be a joke…” Sakamoto says, echoing what Yukiko is thinking.

“Don’t be a pain,” Yuuki says. “You don’t understand what I’m going through. Shouldn’t you of all people know that nothing’s going to help?!”

Yukiko doesn’t know what Yuuki means by that, and she _hates_ it. She knows everything about everyone in school. She needs to know this too.

Yuuki has run away from the conversation while she’s been lost in her head, and now the boys are alone in the entryway.

“What now?” Kurusu asks.

“I’ll try one more time to persuade the other guys,” Sakamoto says. “That’s… all I can do.”

Yukiko empathizes with that helpless feeling. Maybe its time for her to step in.

“Maybe I can be of service,” she says, walking up to them.

“Gah!” Sakamoto yelps in surprise.

Kurusu gives her a little wave.

“I couldn’t help but overhear,” Yukiko explains, “You were being kind of loud and you’re in the middle of the entrance. A lot of people were watching when Kamoshida-san came over. Anyways, you’re trying to get proof that Kamoshida-san is abusing the volleyball team, right?”

Sakamoto and Kurusu exchange glances.

“…Yeah,” Sakamoto says.

“I might be able to help you get proof,” she tells them. “We’ll need to put up hidden cameras in Kamoshida-san’s office. Then, in place of the rumors about Kurusu, I can circulate rumors that Kamoshida-san is abusing the volleyball team. When Kamoshida-san takes students into his office to ask who spilled the beans, we’ll get our proof.”

“But that involves someone innocent getting hurt!” Sakamoto argues.

Yukiko clenches her jaw, because she doesn’t like it anymore than he does, but there’s nothing she can do about it.

“They’re already being abused,” she replies. “We can’t wait for him to happen to take someone into his office. There’s not enough hiding spots for cameras in the gym. This is the best way.”

Sakamoto looks ready for a fight, but Kurusu puts a hand on his shoulder and says, “Let us think about it.”

“Sure,” Yukiko agrees. “I’ll give you until this time tomorrow.”

~

Akane: received April 13, 3:37 pm  
How was the volleyball rally?

Me: sent April 13, 3:38 pm  
you are sitting directly across from me why are you texting me

Akane: received April 13, 3:41 pm  
Because I’m bored…  
Akane: received April 13, 3:43 pm  
I still can’t do anything fun

Me: sent April 13, 3:45 pm  
you are insufferable

Akane: received April 13, 3:46 pm  
You love me anyway :P  
Akane: received April 13, 4:05 pm  
Rin?  
Akane: received April 13, 4:11 pm  
Why are you looking at me like that?

~

The next day, on his way to meet with Uchihara and Ryuji, Akira bumps into a girl at the doors to the courtyard.

She’s covered in bruises, but she doesn’t even flinch when he nearly walks over the top of her. She even _apologizes_ to him, even though it was his fault for nearly running her over.

When he asks if she’s hurt, she gets squirmy and says they’re just from practice, the way all the volleyball players do.

“Could you be that transfer student from Class D?” she asks, changing the subject.

Confused, Akira only nods.

“Um, this might not be any of my business, but don’t let the rumors get to you, okay…?”

Akira wonders where this is coming from. He tells her that the rumors don’t bother him, even though it’s a lie.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she says, and she seems genuine. “My best friend is often misunderstood too, all because of her looks… Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to drag on like that. Anyway, I have to go to practice… I’ll see you around.”

Akira hopes that best friend of hers is there for her the way she seems to be for them.

~

Me: sent April 14, 5:22 pm  
I’m stuck come help me

♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:25 pm  
where are you

Me: sent April 14, 5:26 pm  
On top of the apartment building.

♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:31 pm  
akane  
♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:32 pm  
the apartment building is five stories high with no fire escape  
♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:35 pm  
how did you get up there???

Me: sent April 14, 5:38 pm  
I scaled the side of the building.

♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:40 pm  
WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS

Me: sent April 14, 5:42 pm  
I thought it would be fun!  
Me: sent April 14, 5:44 pm  
I’ve done it before and I was fine!

♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:46 pm  
before you didn’t have a mild concussion!

Me: sent April 14, 5:48 pm  
Sorry :(  
Me: sent April 14, 5:50 pm  
Will you help me?

♥Rin♥: received April 14, 5:51 pm  
be there in five minutes

~

The next day, Yukiko goes to meet the boys by the vending machines after school. She finds both Sakamoto and Kurusu already there.

Along with a black cat.

“—This probably ain’t the best place,” Sakamoto is saying. He grabs the cat by the scruff of its neck and holds it out to Kurusu, saying, “Here, stick it in your bag for now! It should be just small enough to fit!”

“Hey! How dare you treat me like—” the cat screeches as Kurusu opens his bags and shuffles it in.

Wait. That can’t be right. Yukiko _can’t_ have heard that cat just speak.

The boys take the cat in the bag up to the roof, and Yukiko follows, curious, but also because they were supposed to meet with her.

When Yukiko gets to the roof, several minutes after the boys because she was following so far behind, she opens the door and looks around as if looking for them, then says, “There you are! I’ve been looking for you. Did you forget about meeting with me?”

The cat stops hissing at Sakamoto and looks at her curiously, then says, “Who’s this?”

Yukiko stops. Blinks. Tries to process.

“Did that cat just talk?”

“You can hear him too?!” Sakamoto exclaims. He turns to the cat. “What the hell, cat, I thought you said it was only us two??”

“That’s what I thought!” the cat yowls back. “I was thinking it was something about the metaverse changing your perception which allowed you to hear me but I don’t know why she can hear me!”

“Why don’t we all calm down?” Kurusu suggests.

“Right,” Sakamoto says. “Uchihara can hear the cat and you want me to calm down.”

“Is it a big deal that I can hear the cat?” Yukiko asks, recovering enough to reach out and scratch it behind the ears. “Will he tell me all sorts of secrets you two are trying to hide?”

“I will if you keep doing that!” the cat purrs.

“Morgana!” Sakamoto yells.

Yukiko giggles and takes her hand back. The cat, Morgana whines in disappointment.

Seriously, Yukiko says, “You said you thought the metaverse changed people’s perception and allowed people to hear you, correct?”

“…Yeah,” says Morgana.

Yukiko pulls out her phone and shows them the strange red-eye app. The one that appeared after she visited the metaverse with Rin. The same one Rin himself has.

“Does this have anything to do with the metaverse?” she asks.

“Hey that’s the same one we’ve got!” Sakamoto exclaims, pulling out his own phone and showing that he, too has the app. “Where did you get it?”

“Answer my question first,” Yukiko says.

“It’s called the Metaverse Navigator,” Kurusu says. “The Metanav. We use it to get to the Metaverse.”

Yukiko nods. “I got it after I followed you two to Kamoshida-san’s castle on Tuesday,” she says, choosing to leave Rin’s part in it out. That’s his story to tell. “It just showed up the next day and I couldn’t get rid of it.”

“Woah,” Sakamoto says. “That’s just like with us!”

“What is the Metaverse?” Yukiko asks.

“You mean, you don’t know?” Morgana asks suspiciously.

“I told you I just got the app yesterday, didn’t I?” Yukiko replies, raising an eyebrow at the cat. “Of course not.”

Morgana still looks suspicious, but he amicably explains, “The Metaverse is a cognitive world where people’s true selves are revealed. People with distorted views of themselves develop Palaces, like you saw with Kamoshida. People who know who they really are and accept themselves develop Personas. …I think.”

“You think?” Yukiko asks.

“Well I don’t know everything, okay?!”

“Hmmm, and what are you guys doing in Kamoshida’s Palace?” Yukiko asks.

“Well, I’m glad you asked!” Morgana says. “We’re going to attack his castle.”

Yukiko glares at the boys. “What happened to my plan?” she asks.

“To much risk of someone getting hurt,” Sakamoto says with a shrug. “And what do you mean, we’re going to attack his castle?”

It seems these three aren’t all on the same page. Yukiko rolls her eyes.

“That castle is how Kamoshida views this school,” Morgana explains. “He doesn’t realize what happens in there, but it’s deeply connected to the depths of his heart. Thus, if the castle disappears, it would naturally impact the real Kamoshida.”

“What’d happen?” Sakamoto asks.

Yukiko gets it.

“He’s saying Kamoshida-san would have a change of heart, more or less,” she says.

“Right!” Morgana says. “A Palace is a manifestation of a person’s distorted desires. So, if that castle were no more…”

“His desires would go too,” Kurusu finishes.

“Precisely! You sure pick up things fast!” Morgana praises him, and Yukiko figures this must not be the first time.

“For real?!” Sakamoto exclaims. “He’s gonna turn good?! But… is that really gettin’ back at him?”

“Erasing a Palace essentially means forcing the owner to have a change of heart,” Morgana says. “However, even though their warped wants disappear, the crimes they committed remain. Kamoshida will become unable to bear the weight of those crimes and he’ll confess them himself!”

“You for real?!!” Sakamoto says, excited again. “That’s possible??”

“And since the Palace will no longer exist, he’ll forget what we did there as well,” Morgana says, smugly. “Not only will we be able to bring Kamoshida down, but there won’t even be a trace of our involvement.”

Yukiko thinks its probably too good to be true. Any moment, the catch will come.

“That’s amazing!” Sakamoto laughs. “You are one incredible cat!”

“True,” Morgana agrees, then hisses, “except for the cat part!”

“So? How do we get rid of the Palace?!” Sakamoto asks.

“By stealing the Treasure held within,” Morgana answers.

“Stealing?” Sakamoto repeats.

“I’ll tell you more once you agree to go ahead with this,” Morgana says. “It’s my most valuable, secret plan, after all. If you want to help me out, I’ll gladly teach you. What’s your call?”

“Wait a second,” Yukiko says. “What’s the catch? This plan is too perfect. There’s no downfall for us, so there must be some sort of catch somewhere. What is it?”

Looking uncomfortable, Morgana says, “I was gonna get to it… If we erase a Palace, there is no doubt that the person’s distorted desires will be erased as well. But desires are what we all need in order to survive. The will to sleep, eat, fall in love—those sorts of things.”

“So those could all be erased as well, is that what you’re saying?” Yukiko asks.

“Precisely,” Morgana says. “If all of those yearnings were to vanish, they’d be no different than someone who has shut down entirely. They may even die if they’re not given proper care. So…”

“They might die?!” Sakamoto explodes.

“Will you listen to everything I have to say first?” Morgana complains.

“Would their death be our fault…?” Sakamoto continues to worry.

“Aren’t you determined enough to face those kinds of risks?” Morgana asks, and Yukiko thinks that’s pretty cold.

“Hey… What do you think?” Sakamoto asks Kurusu.

“I don’t want to kill him,” Kurusu says. “But we may have to risk it.”

“I agree,” Yukiko says. “Especially since this option only puts Kamoshida-san at risk and not any innocent bystanders.”

“For real?!”

“Sheesh… I come all this way, and this is what I get,” Morgana says, as if two of them didn’t just say it was a good idea. “Its not like anyone will ever find out.”

“That’s not the point!” Sakamoto yells. “If we just go around secretly doin’ whatever we want, we’d be no better than that effin’ Kamoshida…”

“Isn’t this your only option?” Morgana reminds him. “…I’ll come back later. Make sure you’ve made your decision by then.”

With that, he turns tail and runs off, disappearing in record time from the roof.

“Man, we’re getting’ all worked up for nothing… Dammit!” Sakamoto says. “I’ll try and see if I can figure out another way…”

Yukiko doubts he’ll think of anything.

“I still think this is the best option, but it looks like I don’t have much of a say,” she says.

“Of course you do,” Kurusu says, surprising her. And Sakamoto, judging by the face he’s making.

“Well, I won’t have time to explore the palace with you, though…” Yukiko explains. “My life is very strict. I have to be home at certain times. I was supposed to be at the library studying this week so I had some lee-way. If my family finds out I’ve been skipping out, I’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

“We still value your opinion,” Kurusu says, looking up to meet her eyes.

Yukiko wants to flinch back and look down, but she holds his gaze. Kurusu has surprisingly warm eyes. So unlike the cold, black eyes of the Uchihara family.

Yukiko smiles.

“Thank you.”

~

Yukiko: received April 14, 5:52 pm  
I got some interesting information from Akira and Ryuji today.

Me: sent April 14, 5:53 pm  
youre on first name basis now

Yukiko: received April 14, 5:56 pm  
Listen, when a talking cat tells you, you could possibly kill your gym teacher by stealing his desires, little things like first names and last names don’t matter.

Me: sent April 14, 6:01 pm  
…  
Me: sent April 14, 6:01 pm  
are you on crack

Yukiko: received April 14, 6:03 pm  
Meet me at the ramen shop in Tsukishima in thirty minutes and find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? I know this one follows cannon a lot more than the first one did but I promise we will be getting away from that soon. Exploring the palace should give me more room to play around as well. 
> 
> Up next: Rin and Yukiko debate the ethics of stealing a heart...
> 
> Remember to leave a comment and show your support if you like this! Even if its just you screaming in the comments, I will be OVERJOYED. Comments make my day!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS FINALLY HERE!!!!!  
> This chapter took WAY too long to write. I spent MONTHS stuck on the first couple hundred words and then all of a sudden the today and yesterday I churned out 3k words each and blitzed through this chapter! Like. WTF??  
> WHY AM I LIKE THIS????  
> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN I NOT TAKE THIS LONG TO WRITE CHAPTER FOUR.
> 
> Anyways I've been playing the new Persona 5 Royal game this last week since I'm stuck at home doing nothing during the apocalypse and OMG ITS SO FUN. I GET TO HANG OUT WITH AKECHI HOLY SHIT WHAT A CONCEPT. AND OHMYGOODGOLYGOD DO THINGS GET STEEEEEEEEEAMY. Wow.
> 
> I'll stop rambling now and let you get on with enjoying the story!

Rin stares down at the two, almost innocent—without context—texts on his phone, feeling a headache coming on.

 

Akane: received April 14, 5:50 pm  
Will you help me?

Yukiko: received April 14, 6:03 pm  
Meet me at the ramen shop in Tsukishima in thirty minutes and find out.

 

He’s already on his way to meet Akane and help her down from the top of her apartment building even though she’s concussed and shouldn’t be out of bed and now Yukiko is acting like she’s on crack and Rin really needs new friends. His are insane probably. And he’s a fool for putting up with their shenanigans.

Rin makes it to Akane’s apartment and studies the building. He can see the route Akane probably used to get up, and can understand why she wouldn’t be able to use it to get back down in her concussed state. Too many jumps and turns and slides for her to handle. He’ll need to find a safer route down.

He can’t spot anything from the ground, so Rin starts making his way up, much more slowly than Akane would normally go, looking for a route down as he goes. He spots one just as he’s nearing the top and allows himself a smirk of victory. Its going to be more ledge scaling than he thinks is safe for Akane in her state, but he’s confident she’ll be able to do it safely.

“Akane,” Rin calls for her when he reaches the top. “I found a way down.”

“Oh, thank god!” Akane cries, shooting up from where she’s been laying on the roof and immediately swooning. “Fuck! Headache! _Ow_. I’ve been _so_ bored.”

Rin rolls his eyes at the dramatics and goes to check on her. Her pupils aren’t dilatated much more than normal, so her concussion isn’t getting worse, thankfully.

“Come on,” he says. “After I get you home I have to go meet Yukiko and make sure she’s not on crack.”

Akane lets out a surprised cackle.

“Yukiko on crack?!” she snorts. “I would _pay_ to see that!”

“Don’t enable her,” Rin groans.

Akane grins unapologetically as Rin helps her to her feet and shows her the way down the side of the building.

As expected, Akane skillfully slip-slides down the path Rin laid out for her, while he follows at a much safer speed. They meet back on street level and Rin gives Akane a discouraging glare as she looks back up at the top of the building with a longing look.

Rin takes her back to the apartment where he finds her older brother, Koji, in his room on the computer. Rin leaves Koji in charge of Akane, with strict instructions to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t wander off and do something stupid again. He’s sure Koji will become lax in his attentions before the hour is up, so he hopes he can deal with whatever Yukiko’s problem is quick.

He hates having to be the responsible one. He should be paid for his emotional labor, he didn’t sign up for this shit.

Exactly twenty minutes later, he’s walking into the designated ramen shop and glancing around for Yukiko’s signature space buns. He spots her easily enough, sitting in a remote corner at the bar, but in view of the entrance. Rin makes his way over to her and slides onto the empty barstool next to her.

She’s situated herself so she’s one seat away from the end, so Rin takes the seat on the end where he won’t have any unfortunate encounters sitting next to a stranger. He appreciates Yukiko thinking of it even on crack, if she is on crack.

“So,” says Rin, pulling out his phone to check their chat log, just to make sure he has his facts straight. “killing our gym teacher by stealing his desires?”

“That’s the part you chose to focus on?”

“ _Talking cat_??”

“There it is.”

“Yukiko.”

“Yes?”

“What. The. Actual. _Fuck_.”

Yukiko laughs and it makes Rin feel better somehow. “Here,” she says, “I’ll buy you Ramen and tell you all about it.”

Rin’s hopes of getting home in an hour are dying on the tracks of the subway tunnels as the train unsympathetically crushes them to death.

He sighs, “Yeah, okay. Let’s hear it.”

Yukiko orders Rin’s favorite miso ramen and as they settle down to wait, she begins to tell the story.

She tells him about following Akira and Sakamoto around yesterday and learning that they were trying to gather dirt on Kamoshida’s abuse of the volleyball team. About approaching them with her own plan to gather information and their vehement rejection of her idea.

“Well I wouldn’t want an innocent bystander to get mixed up in that mess either,” Rin deadpans.

“Fair enough,” Yukiko agrees. “It may not be anything we need to consider now anyways, now that we have a second option.”

“Right, stealing Kamoshida’s desires right?”

“Yup.”

Rin’s ramen is placed in front of him but he doesn’t touch it yet, leveling Yukiko with the most piercing stare he can muster.

Yukiko rolls her eyes.

“Morgana, that’s the talking cat I mentioned by the way, knows more, but he explained some of it to us this afternoon,” Yukiko says. “Apparently, that weird red eye app that showed up on your phone is called the ‘Metaverse Navigator’ and functions as a sort of Google Maps to the Metaverse, which is where you and I ended up when we followed Akira and Ryuji the other day.”

“… So weird,” Rin mutters under his breath. He’s not sure Yukiko even hears him.

“Sometimes people with a really distorted view of the world can develop Palaces in the Metaverse,” Yukiko continues. “A cognitive world that shows how their subconscious views the world. For example, Kamoshida thinks the school is his castle, so in the Metaverse—”

“The school becomes a castle.” Rin gets it. “So where does stealing his desires come in?”

“Every Palace has a treasure that’s the center of the ruler’s distortion,” Yukiko says. “If we steal that treasure, the distortion won’t be able to sustain itself any longer and collapse. In the real world the Palace Ruler experiences a change of heart as their distorted desires have been stolen and becomes unable to bear the weight of their crimes.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’.”

Yukiko snorts. “But desires are what people need to live. Morgana said if we steal Kamoshida’s heart, we run the risk of giving him a mental shutdown. He could die.”

“Shit,” Rin intones.

“I think the risk is worth it though,” Yukiko plows on, as if she hadn’t just dropped that we might kill a guy bomb on Rin a second ago. “This way, Kamoshida is the only one we risk getting hurt, and even then its still a big maybe. Morgana didn’t sound certain that a mental shutdown _would_ happen. He might be fine.”

“Okay, hold up,” Rin says, and Yukiko finally stops her babbling. “Correct me if I’m wrong but it sounds like stealing someone’s treasure would cause a complete personality one-eighty.”

“Uh, yeah?” Yukiko says, like she’s not sure where he’s going with this. Unsurprising given that Akane is the only one who’s ever been able to keep up with Rin’s jumps through logic one-hundred percent of the time.

“And that doesn’t strike you as… I dunno. Brainwashing?”

Yukiko blanches. “What? No! Its more like pruning a bonsai. You have to cut away the bad parts sometimes.”

“But you’re _forcing_ the person to think a certain way; to feel a certain way,” Rin argues. “That seems just a tad unethical to me.”

“We’re not forcing our way of thinking on them,” Yukiko says, frowning. “That’s not how it works. At least, it didn’t sound that way to me. We’re just taking away the distorted desires. The stuff that stops them from seeing the world as it really is. After that, its up to them to make things better. That’s what I think at least. I guess I don’t know for certain how this all works yet.”

Rin stares into his broth, pensive. Without another word he breaks apart his chopsticks and begins to eat, slow and methodical. Yukiko sips her tea in silence beside him.

When he’s done, Rin sets his chopsticks down across the bowl and says, “I’m going with them.”

“What?”

“Akira and Sakamoto,” Rin elaborates. “I’m going with them to steal Kamoshida’s treasure.”

Yukiko blinks owlishly, obviously perplexed. “Why?”

“I wanna see for myself how its done and what the effects are,” he says. “Maybe you’re right and its just cutting out the bad stuff. That would be nice, I think. But what happens if I’m right and it’s more like brainwashing?”

Yukiko doesn’t have an answer for him, but she looks unsettled.

Yukiko pays for the food and they walk to the train station together. They sit together on the train to Ayome Itchome, where they’ll have to switch lines and go their separate ways. Its after rush hour so there are less people on the train, but Rin still feels claustrophobic and uncomfortable the whole way there.

When they get to the station Yukiko blows him a kiss before heading off in the direction of her train, and it makes Rin smile. Its enough to get him back to Motomachi Chukagai and Akane’s family’s small, but welcoming apartment.

~

Akira’s had a weird day.

Meeting Morgana, discovering Yukiko can hear him too, learning about stealing hearts or treasures or desires or whatever it is they are, only to find out it might result in their gym teacher’s death.

Deep down, Akira knows he’s kind of maybe okay with that.

He doesn’t know if he’s okay with being okay with that.

Like he said. Weird day.

And then as he’s transferring lines in Shibuya on his way home he overhears one of his classmates on the phone. The blonde girl with pigtails he met on the first day, who smiled at him and then got into Kamoshida’s car. Who everyone say’s is dating Kamoshida, but every time he sees her talking to their gym teacher, she looks uncomfortable and maybe almost scared. Who’s name is Takamaki Ann, though he didn’t know it until just this afternoon.

“Will you please give it a rest?” Takamaki says into her phone. “I told you I’m not feeling up to it.”

There’s a pause. “Wait, what? That’s not what you promised! And you call yourself a teacher?!”

Another short pause as the person on the other end of the line responds. “This has nothing to do with Shiho! Ah…!”

She looks down at her phone in shock and disbelief and Akira guesses the other person hung up on her. She stands there for a moment, looking stunned, and then she squats down and buries her face in her knees.

“Shiho’s… starting position…” she mumbles into her kneecaps, barely audible enough for Akira to hear.

Akira knows he’s supposed to be keeping his head down and out of other people’s business, but he kind of screwed the pooch already on that one. It can’t get any worse he guesses. Besides, he’s always been a good listener, and people in his hometown used to say he was easy to talk to. Maybe he can offer her some comfort at least.

He walks up to her and Takamaki looks up at his approach. Her eyes are brimming with tears.

She startles at the sight of him and he realizes too late that having the school delinquent approach her might freak her out.

“Wait… were you listening?!”

Or maybe not.

“Not on purpose,” he replies, mumbling a little as his shoulders bunch up reflexively.

“Haven’t you heard of privacy?” she snaps.

Akira doesn’t quite flinch at her tone, but maybe she sees something in his face because she sighs and says, “…No, I was out of line. Sorry.”

Akira shrugs.

Takamaki wipes her eyes.

“So… how much did you hear?” she asks.

“Something about a friend,” he replies.

Takamaki’s eyes well up with tears again. “Shiho…” She squares her shoulders and denies, “Its nothing at all. Nothing…”

She wipes her eyes again and then turns and runs.

Akira doesn’t stop to think before going after her.

He catches up to her in the underground walkway and she wheels around and says, “Stop following me… just leave me alone!”

Akira shakes his head and asks, “Are you okay?”

“Why… why do you keep worrying about me?” she sobs.

“Let’s go somewhere safe,” Akira coaxes, trying to keep his voice even and soothing, even if inside he’s just as much of an emotional wreck as she is.

“What the heck…? I really don’t get you…” Takamaki says, but she lets him lead her to a nearby café and buy her a drink.

“I don’t have anything to talk about with you,” she says, once they’re seated in a booth. “It was… just an argument.”

“…With Kamoshida?” Akira guesses. He may not be the smartest kid in school, but he’s certainly above average in observation. He just _notices_ things. Things most people seem to ignore.

“…You’ve heard the rumors… haven’t you?” Takamaki finally begins after a long pause. “About Kamoshida-san. Everyone says we’re getting it on… but that’s so not true..! That was him on the other line. I avoided giving him my number… for the longest time…

“He told me to go to his place after this… you know what it means.” Takamaki is restlessly crumbling a napkin in her hands as she speaks. “If I turn him down… he said he’d take my friend off as a regular on the team… I’ve been telling myself this is all for Shiho’s sake… I can’t take it anymore…”

Akira tries and fails to think of something to say. What do you say to something like that?

“I’ve had enough of this…” Takamaki wails softly, “I hate him! …But still, Shiho’s my best friend. She’s all I have left at that sorry excuse of a school! Tell me… what should I do…?”

Akira doesn’t know. He wants to tell her, “Don’t go it’s not worth selling yourself to that pervert.” He also wants to tell her, “Take care of your friend if she’s what’s most important to you.”

But he doesn’t know what’s right or wrong in this situation. And he thinks maybe its up to Takamaki to decide for herself.

“Sorry…” Takamaki says when Akira’s been silent too long. “I shouldn’t have asked… It’s not your problem.”

Akira wants to say, “It is now,” but he can’t bring himself to speak.

~

Today is the day Akane returns to school and, honestly, she’s so stir crazy that she doesn’t even care it means she’ll have to deal with Kamoshida’s not so subtle advances. She just wants to get _out_.

She and Rin ride the train to school, and Rin makes her sit next to him instead of taking up her position of personal space guard-dog like usual, even though she can tell that the people pressing in around them are making him anxious. She chooses to feel touched rather than annoyed that Rin’s looking out for her rather than thinking of his own wellbeing.

As they walk through the front entrance, they come across Kamoshida as he patrols the hallways.

“Good morning Akane-chan! Welcome back!” Kamoshida says with a friendly smile that’s as fake as the color of Ryuji’s hair.

“Good morning Kamoshida-san,” Akane replies, returning a fake smile of her own. “Thank you. Its good to be back.”

She’s hoping that’ll be the end of it, but Kamoshida puts a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her in place and says, “I heard about your accident. I hope your injures won’t affect your gymnastics performance. It’d be a shame to lose your winning streak when you’re so close to competing on an Olympic level.”

Akane thinks he’s trying to sound concerned for her wellbeing, but he’s really just coming across as an asshole.

“I wouldn’t be concerned about it, Kamoshida-san,” she says with a placid smile, though she contemplates if she could get away with biting a couple of his fingers off. He doesn’t need those to play volleyball, right? “I’ve continued with my training even while I’ve been out of school.”

Rin snorts from where he’s standing a little ways away, drawing Kamoshida’s attention to him.

Kamoshida’s friendly expression slides off his face and is replaced by one of cold indifference.

“Who’s this?” he asks.

“This is my brother, Rin,” Akane says. “He recently transferred to Shujin.”

Kamoshida frowns in thought for a moment, then snaps his fingers and says, “Oh yeah, I remember now!”

Akane has a moment of foreboding and the panicked thought that they are in the middle of a crowded entranceway before realized that there’s nothing she can do to stop this from happening.

“The mental breakdown kid!” Kamoshida says, a smile on his face like he hadn’t just blurted out extremely private information in the middle of the hallway.

Akane looks at Rin who’s looking back at her with his face white as a sheet but otherwise perfectly blank. She knows that look. Time for damage control.

She turns back to face Kamoshida and smiles brightly. It’s not a nice smile. It’s a smile that exudes murder. She hopes Kamoshida can feel her hate.

“I’m sure you didn’t just say that in the middle of a crowded hallway Kamoshida-san. That would be extremely irresponsible of you if it were true! You should be more careful of what you say in the future. Also, of where you get your gossip. Honestly, you can’t believe half the rumors you hear around here. I know the school’s gossip girl and she practically _runs_ the rumor mill these days. Half the stuff she spreads around is just for shits and giggles.”

She places her hand on Kamoshida’s, where it still rests on her shoulder, and plucks it off by the wrist, keeping the move smooth and casual, but squeezing his hand so tightly she hears his knuckles pop.

Kamoshida’s face has gone dark with anger, but Akane keeps her smile in place as she turns to Rin and beckons for him to follow her.

Rin gives Kamoshida as wide of a berth as he can as they pass, heading for the second floor. Akane shows Rin to the guidance office, where Kawakami is waiting.

“Oh there you are,” Kawakami says. “I was starting to think it was going to be another repeat of Kurusu-kun’s first day.”

Akane raises an eyebrow. There’s still five minutes before classes start and Rin doesn’t even have a delinquent status to make her jump to that assumption! What is _wrong_ with people?

“Will you be okay on your own?” Akane asks Rin, deciding to ignore Kawakami’s snide comment for now.

Rin nods silently.

Akane smiles and blows him a kiss on her way out the door. “Have fun! Say hi to Kurusu-kun for me! See you at lunch!”

And then she jogs back down the stairs to make it to homeroom in time. She barely makes the bell.

~

When Akane leaves, Rin is left with his homeroom teacher, Kawakami, who is giving him a disgusted look for some reason. He looks down at his clothes and yep he remembered to put on _clean_ clothes today so he doesn’t know what she’s so upset about. He’s wearing his soft red hoodie and the Shujin pants which are surprisingly comfy. There’s no food or dirt or grass stains anywhere that he can see.

Maybe she just doesn’t like him. If that’s the case, there’s not much he can do about that.

Kawakami sighs and stands up. “Lets get this over with.”

She leads Rin out of the guidance office and down the hall to another classroom. Where she stops and turns to him with her hand on the door handle.

“Be serious when you introduce yourself, okay?” she says. “Don’t say anything weird.”

Rin doesn’t plan to say anything at all if he can help it.

Kawakami must take his silence as agreement because she opens the door and leads him inside.

Standing at the front of the classroom facing about twenty other classmates, Rin feels like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming semi. He can hear Kawakami introducing him and then asking him to say something to the class, but he can’t make his throat work. He can barely even breathe. Kawakami sighs in defeat and finally points him to an empty seat in the back near the windows.

Rin’s feet move on autopilot, but he stops two desks away from his when he finds very familiar eyes peering up at him from behind thick frames. Akira smirks and taps his glasses.

Rin understands it for what it is. _Later_.

He continues on to his desk one back from Akira’s and slides into it, shoving his bag into the cubby space underneath. Class begins and Rin fixes his eyes on the clouds drifting by outside. Its going to be a _very_ long day.

~

Akira is slumped over his desk listening to Ushimaru-san give a lecture about their government. Something about the separation of powers? He’s not sure, his brain checked out when he heard some of his classmates gossiping about him during lunch. This time it was that he was part of the yakuza and if you got to close to him, he’d sell your organs on the black market.

Completely ridiculous.

It shouldn’t bother him. But everyone seems to _believe_ the rumors they hear, even if they’re impossible ones like this most recent one. Akira hates it.

There’s a rustling in Akira’s desk and a childish voice whispers, “Have you made up your mind?” startling Akira out of his thoughts.

He jolts upright and looks around, but no one else seems to have heard the voice. Finally his brain connects the voice to Morgana and he looks down at his desk with a certain amount of trepidation.

Curled up in his desk, with his furry head poking out to look up at Akira, is a black and white cat with bright blue eyes.

“No matter how much thinking you do, there’s only one option,” Morgana continues. “You’d be better off just listening to me.”

“Why are you in there?” Akira asks tonelessly, keeping his voice down so nobody else hears.

“Hm? Did I just hear a cat just now?” Ushimaru-san says, looking up from the blackboard.

“M-meow!” Morgana squeaks in panic.

“Could that rumored cat be somewhere nearby…?” Ushimaru-san wonders.

The class titters as students take the break in lecture to turn to each other and talk.

“Settle down!” Ushimaru-san barks. “We’re in the middle of an important lecture!”

As he turns back to the black board and continues his lecture, Akira feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulls it out and check his messages discretely under his desk. Of course, this means that Morgana can read all his messages too.

 

Ryuji: received April 15, 12:18 pm  
It’s no use… I can’t think of any other way…

Me: sent April 15, 12:21 pm  
Are you cutting class?

Ryuji: received April 15, 12:22 pm  
I can’t deal with that shit right now. I mean, what’re we gonna do about Kamoshida?  
Ryuji: received April 15, 12:24 pm  
Do we just gotta go along with what that cat says?  
Ryuji: received April 15, 12:25 pm  
Urgh, that damn furball…

 

“If he only knew that I’m reading this too,” Morgana says.

Akira smiles and puts his phone back in his pocket.

“Hey… what’s that?!” A boy on the complete opposite side of the room says, standing up from his desk.

Akira flinches and looks over at her, thinking he’d seen Morgana, but the boy's not looking his way. He’s looking through the hall windows at something. A few other students turn to look as well and there’s a wave of gasps and tittering that sweeps through the classroom.

“Enough!” Ushimaru-san snaps, trying to quiet the class, but nobody is listening to him.

Akira looks through the window, trying to see whatever it is the boy saw.

Someone says, “Wait… she’s going to jump!” and that’s when Akira see’s the girl standing on the outside of the fence that surrounds the roof.

It’s the same girl that he almost walked on top of the other day. The one who expressed concern for him and the rumors that follow him everywhere.

Akira feels a shard of ice wedge itself between his lungs, making every breath painful.

Yuuki Mishima bolts out of his chair as wave of chatter rushes through the classroom. “Suzui…?”

Takamaki Ann whips her head around from where she’d been staring out the window disinterestedly. “Shiho?!” She hesitates for only the barest of moments before tearing out of the room like there’s a fire licking at her heels.

Ushimaru-san’s order of, “Stay in your seats” and “do not set foot outside of this room” falls on deaf ears as several of the students rush out into the hallway. Akira scrambles out of his desk to chase after Takamaki.

He hesitates for a moment to glance back at Rin, sitting two seats behind him, and finds the other boy ashen faced, staring down at his desk with wide eyes. He looks like he’s about to freak out and Akira wars with himself as to whether he should go after Takamaki or stay and comfort his friend.

Akira bites his lip and makes a decision.

“Rin,” he says, and the other boys eyes snap up to his. “Come with me.”

Rin nods mutely and shuffles out of his seat, shoving his hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie as his shoulders come up around his ears.

“It’ll be okay,” Akira tries to reassure him.

Rin gives him a searching look. Akira doesn’t know what else to say.

He leads Rin out into the hall, where the noise is substantially louder. The girl is no longer on the roof, and Akira feels sick to his stomach. Takamaki is sprinting towards the stairs, and Ushimaru-san is yelling uselessly at students to return to their classrooms.

“We’re going after Takamaki,” Akira tells Rin, and the other boy nods firmly. He looks a little less shell shocked in the face of a task to do and Akira hopes he’s doing the right thing.

They run into Ryuji by the stairs, who says, “H-hey! What’s going on?! We should head to the courtyard to!”

So Ryuji joins their little brigade on the way to the courtyard. They go to the doors to the courtyard, but find them blocked and have to take the long way around, which involves shoving their way through more crowds of people than Akira thinks Rin is strictly comfortable with, but they make it there.

They shove through the crowd gathered in the courtyard to the front, where Takamaki is standing, watching as the paramedics load her friend onto the stretcher.

Ryuji looks around the people gathered, most of whom have their phones out taking pictures or recording the whole thing. “What the hell’s wrong with these people?!” he says.

“We need someone to go with her!” a paramedic says, addressing the crowd. “Are there any teachers around?”

“I-I’m not in charge of her class though,” a teacher in the crowd says.

“We should leave this to Principal Kobayakawa…” another teacher says.

Akira feels disgusted.

Takamaki stomps her foot and yells, “I’ll go!”

“Please hurry!” the paramedic tells her, and Takamaki breaks away from the crowd to rush to her friend’s side and kneel in the grass beside her.

Her friend seems to regain consciousness long enough to have a short, hushed conversation with Takamaki. One that ends with Takamaki exclaiming, “Huh…? Kamoshida…?” just loud enough for those at the front of the crowd to hear.

Once the ambulance is gone, Ryuji shifts and crosses his arms. “Volleyball team…” he muses.

Akira sees movement out of the corner of his eye and turns just in time to see Yuuki scramble away from the scene.

“That guy…” Ryuji says, scowling. “Hey, wasn’t Mishima acting weird?”

“He knows something,” Akira replies.

Rin is watching the two of them silently, but his eyes are sharp and calculating.

“…We’re gonna make him talk this time,” Ryuji growls, and he gives chase after Yuuki.

Akira resists the urge to roll his eyes as he and Rin follow.

They corner Yuuki near the entrance, and he backs up into a corner between the wall and lockers. Akira can see Morgana lounging on top of the lockers, unabashedly spying.

“Why’d you run like that? Huh?!” Ryuji snarls getting up in Yuuki’s face.

Akira wants to pull his back and say, “Down boy.”

“I didn’t run…” Yuuki denies, and Akira raises an eyebrow skeptically.

“She jumped and tried to kill herself!” Ryuji explodes, punching the locker next to him and making all of them jump.

“…L-leave me alone…” Yuuki whimpers pathetically. Akira almost pities him.

“Just tell us,” he says flatly.

“He’s right!” Ryuji chimes in, sounding more in control of himself. “We ain’t trying to get you busted. We won’t say you talked either!”

“Suzui…” Yuuki mumbles, eyes downcast. He drops his face into his hands and finally blurts out, “She was called out by Kamoshida-san!”

“Wait, what?!” Ryuji says.

“I was called by him a number of times too…” Yuuki continues, slowly lowering his hands and looking up at them: he looks haunted and terrified, “to the teacher’s room. It wasn’t just me or Suzui either. He’d nominate someone when he was in a bad mood… and hit them.”

“So the physical punishment thing was for real,” Ryuji says, looking ready to punch something.

“But yesterday,” Yuuki continues, “he called Suzui out of the blue. She didn’t make any mistakes or anything… Kamoshida-san seemed really irritated that day, so it must’ve been… worse than usual…”

Akira can guess what that means.

Ryuji can too apparently, because he says, “He didn’t…! That son of a bitch!” and turns and sprints off.

Akira glances at Rin, who is, surprisingly, not paying attention to them at all, but having a staring contest with Morgana. Akira’s not sure what to do about that, but he has other things to worry about right now. Like Ryuji trying to bash Kamoshida’s face in.

Akira chases after Ryuji, and he can hear Yuuki and Rin following a few steps behind him.

They follow Ryuji up to the second floor and watch him run into the faculty office.

“Hurry! We have to stop him!” Yuuki urges, and Akira sprints to the faculty office.

They burst in after Ryuji to find him standing behind Kamoshida, who’s sitting at his desk pretending he hasn’t noticed.

When three more teenagers burst in, he apparently has to take notice, because he looks up and turns to face them.

“You bastard!” Ryuji shouts. “What the hell did you do to that girl?!”

“What are you talking about?” Kamoshida says waving him off like he doesn’t know a girl tried to kill herself today.

“Don’t!” Ryuji kicks over a trash can, “Play dumb with me!”

“That is enough!” Kamoshida snaps.

“What you did… wasn’t coaching…!” Yuuki speaks up, barely loud enough to be heard.

“What did you say?” Kamoshida asks dangerously.

“You… you ordered me to call Suzui here…” Yuuki says. “I can only imagine what you did to her…!”

“You’re going on and on about things you have no proof of…” Kamoshida says, standing from his desk and towering over them with his arms crossed.

Akira can see Rin trembling in his peripherals and shifts to stand slightly in front of the other boy.

“Basically, you’re simply making these claims because you can’t be a regular on the team, right?” Kamoshida says to Yuuki.

“That’s not what this is about…!” Yuuki says.

“Even if it is exactly as you imagine it to be, hypothetically speaking… what can you do?” Kamoshida asks smugly, tauntingly. “We just received a call from the hospital. Suzui’s in a coma, and her chances of recovery are slim… How would someone like that make a statement?”

Akira’s hands clench into fists and he has to hold himself back from introducing his fist to Kamoshida’s smug face. He knows if he does it there’ll be no second chances for him. He’ll be sent straight to juvie.

“There’s no chance of her getting better, I hear…” Kamoshida continues, his face contorting in false sympathy. “The poor girl.”

“No… that can’t be…” Yuuki says.

“You goddamn…!” Ryuji spits.

“This again…?” Kamoshida sighs, stepping up into Ryuji’s space.

Akira’s impressed that Ryuji never backs down or gives in no matter how many times Kamoshida does it.

“Does this mean we need to have yet another case of ‘self-defense’?” The air quotes around self-defense are undeniable.

“You shut your mouth you son of a bitch!” Ryuji snarls, and pulls his fist back.

Akira jumps forward and grabs his wrist, pulling his friend back from the brink of assault charges.

“Why’re you stopping me…!?” Ryuji howls.

“Calm down,” Akira says, trying to convey with his eyes that having assault on his record is not worth the temporary satisfaction of punching Kamoshida in the face. It wouldn’t solve anything anyways.

“Oh?” Kamoshida says in mocking surprise. “You’re stopping him? What a surprise. There’s no need to hold back. Why not attack me? …Oh, you can’t.” Kamoshida laughs mockingly. “But of course you can’t!”

He steps back to his desk and sits down, turning his back on them, a clear dismissal. “Everyone present right now… will be expelled. I’m reporting all of you at the next board meeting.”

“Wha—”

“You can’t make a decision like that!”

“Who would seriously consider what scum like you say?” Kamoshida asks. “You threatened me too, Mishima, so you’re just as responsible.”

“Huh…?”

“To think you didn’t know why I kept someone as talentless as you on the team,” Kamoshida sneers. “You act like you’re a victim, but you leaked Kurusu’s criminal records, didn’t you? It’s all over the internet, correct? How terrible.”

Akira’s eyebrows creep up to his hairline and he, Ryuji, and Rin turn to look at Yuuki.

“Mishima…?” Ryuji asks.

“He told me to do it,” Yuuki says. “I had no choice…”

Kamoshida cackles and Akira believes him. Kamoshida is the worst kind of scum.

“Now, are we finished here?” Kamoshida asks, not even looking at them anymore. “You’re all expelled! You’re done for; Your futures are mine to take. Now get out of my sight.”

“I can’t believe this asshole’s gettin’ away with this…!” Ryuji yells.

“He’ll eat his words,” Akira says, meeting Morgana’s eyes from where the cat is hiding in a corner of the room, unnoticed until now.

“Huh…?” Ryuji says, startled, before catching on. “…Oh right. We have that!”

“Huh?” Kamoshida turns back to them. “Have you lost your minds? I don’t understand what garbage like you are thinking, but go ahead and try. All you can do is wait for your disposal though…”

“Yeah, fuck that,” Akira hears Rin mutter under his breath, as they turn and leave the faculty office.

~

Rin follows Akira and Sakamoto down to the vending machines in the courtyard. The cat that he suspects is the talking cat Yukiko told him about last night follows and hops up on the table when they arrive.

“We can’t waste any time,” Sakamoto says, punching the nearest vending machine. “We gotta hurry up and go to that world and beat the shit outa that asshole!”

Both the cat and Akira whip their heads around to look at Rin. Then the cat snaps, “Ryuji!”

“What!?” Ryuji growls, whirling around. He looks like he’s about to say more but his eyes catch on Rin and his mouth snaps shut.

Rin raises an eyebrow. He’s not sure why they’re acting so weird.

While they’re standing there staring at each other in silence, Yukiko waltzes into their midst and says, “Akane’s looking for you, Rin. Want me to head her off so you can get into Metaverse shenanigans?”

Rin turns to look at her. “Yes,” he says, simply.

Yukiko smiles brightly, “You got it! I’ll tell her you’re hanging out with Akira so she won’t worry, so next time I inevitably have a panic attack about upcoming exams you’ll help me study.”

“Okay,” Rin nods, accepting the deal.

Yukiko winks at Akira and Sakamoto, blows Rin a kiss, and is gone just as suddenly as she had appeared.

“What the hell!?” exclaims Ryuji. “First Yukiko, now this kid!? Are there any other Metaverse travelers we should know about?!”

“Dunno,” says Rin. “I first went in during the subway accident. Ended up in a weird alternate subway system and got attacked by a gun toting monster with a chain fetish.”

“You got attacked by the Reaper!?” the cat yowls. “How did you survive?!”

“I dunno,” Rin shrugs. “I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in the hospital and the nurses told me I’d been in a subway accident. I thought it was a dream until me and Yukiko followed you guys into the Metaverse the other day.”

This is the most he’s talked to people other than his brother Akane and Yukiko in a long time and its starting to wear him down.

He takes a deep breath to steel himself. “Yukiko told me you guys are planning to steal Kamoshida’s heart,” he says. “I want to join you.”

They exchange looks.

The cat imperiously says, “Only a persona user would be able to stand a chance against the shadows that we’ll encounter in the palace.”

“Persona? Shadows?” Rin asks.

“A Persona is the manifestation of your inner rebel,” the cat explains. “And shadows are creatures that are drawn to the distortion of a palace. Often acting under the will of the Palace ruler.”

“How do you know if you have a Persona or have the ability to manifest one?” Rin asks.

The cat looks uncertain. “I… I don’t know… Not everyone can do it.”

“Then how do you know I can’t have one?”

“Why don’t we let him come along?” Akira asks.

“What!?” the cat exclaims.

“I guess I don’t have a problem with it if Akira’s okay with it,” Sakamoto says.

“Not you too!” the cat moans.

“Even if you say no, I’ll just follow you anyway,” Rin points out. “I have the Metaverse Navigator on my phone.”

“Welp. I guess that settles it!” says Sakamoto. “Welcome to the team, little man. I’m Sakamoto Ryuji. Call me Ryuji.”

“Kuroyashi Rin.”

“I’m Morgana!” the cat introduces himself. “And I guess you know Akira already.”

“All right!” says Ryuji. “Now lets go to the other world and beat the shit out of Kamoshida!”

“…We’re not beating him up,” Morgana says. “We’re simply stealing his distorted desires. Can I assume that you’ve made up you’re minds about this—about how he might suffer a mental shutdown?”

“…I have,” says Ryuji. “Someone almost died because of him. I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to him anymore!”

“And you?” Morgana asks Akira.

“I agree,” says Akira.

“I don’t care if he has a mental shutdown,” Rin says, and Morgana and Ryuji look at him as if he’s lost his mind. Akira just looks at him, his eyes nonjudgmental, and its him who Rin speaks to. “I just want to find out what the change of heart actually is. Because it sounds to me like we’re forcing our own beliefs and ways of thinking on another person. Changing the way they perceive right and wrong. And that’s brainwashing. I can’t abide by that.”

“But you’re okay with murder!?” Ryuji squawks, sounding incredulous.

“And anyway, that’s not what the change of heart is!” Morgana protests.

“I’m not saying it is,” Rin says, shrugging. “I’m saying I wanna see for myself what it is.”

Akira gives him a small smile. It feels like acceptance.

“Well,” says Morgana, “there you have it.”

“By the way,” Ryuji says, “is getting’ rid of a Palace hard…? You’ve tried it before, right?”

“…When did I ever say that?” Morgana says.

“…Eh?” Ryuji looks confused. Then shocked. “WHAT!? Were you just pretending to know??”

“Is it true that you’re getting expelled?” someone else asks, and Rin flinches and spins around.

Standing at the entrance to the vending machine hangout is Takamaki Ann, the girl who sits in front of Akira in class. The girl who went with the jumper to the hospital.

“Everyone’s talking about it…” Takamaki continues.

“That asshole’s at it again…!” Ryuji grumbles. “So you came all this way just to tell us that?”

“If you’re going to deal with Kamoshida… let me in on it to,” Takamaki says, steel in her voice. “I can’t just sit back and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!”

“This has nothing to do with you…” Ryuji says. “Don’t butt your head into this…”

“But it does!” Takamaki exclaims. “Shiho’s my—”

“I said don’t get in our way!” Ryuji cuts her off.

Takamaki shoots him an icy glare before she turns and runs off.

“…That was harsh,” says Morgana.

“We can’t take her somewhere like that…” Ryuji says.

“Why not?” Rin asks.

“We just can’t!” Like that answers anything.

“I hope she doesn’t torment herself over this,” says Morgana. “When it comes down to it, women don’t hesitate.”

Rin thinks of Akane and Yukiko and their steel and ice and agrees wholeheartedly.

“We just gotta hurry up and deal with Kamoshida,” Ryuji says. “Let’s go already!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Things are about to get interesting from here on out :) What are your thoughts on Rin's viewpoint of stealing hearts?
> 
> Up next: Infiltrating Kamoshida's Palace and an Awakening.
> 
> Don't forget to leave comments and kudos if you're enjoying the story! Even if you just want to comment a <3 to give an extra kudos it will make my entire day! Your support gives me life!!


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